A Change of Heart
by SherlockedinStohess
Summary: Edward and Bella have survived James, prom and Charlie and start their senior year at high school. Then Bella gets a letter from her best friend Lyra, saying she's moving back to Forks. What will happen between Bella and Jacob? Better yet, between Edward and this 'friend? Edward/OC not very much Edward/Bella for all the classics fans.
1. Returning to Forks

Okay, so this is just the 1st chapter of this Twilight fic I've had in my mind for a while now. I've only written this chapter so far, and I'd really like opinions as to whether or not I should continue.

**Summary**: Since it's the 1st chapter I'll explain: this story takes place after Twilight, but New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn never happen. So basically it's my own plot, though the whole thing with James still happened.

Bella's old friend Lyra moves back to town after leaving to go live in Europe for 4-5 years. They kept in touch and now the Cullen's are a little worried that Bella and Lyra's closeness might jeopardize their secret.

**Rating**: T, for language and some possibly suggestive themes later on.

**Word Count**: 'Round 3.3k (so you know what you're getting into XD)

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does, I'm just setting up a different story.

**Courtesies**: Thank you to Feardomized from DeviantArt, for letting me use one of their pictures for the cover photo.

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There were a few things Edward was certain of. One, he was madly in love with the most beautiful creature to walk the earth and two, right now, that creature was more excited than he had ever seen her. And she wouldn't tell him why.

Well, technically they had only been in the car for about 30 seconds; but with his multi-functioning, high speed brain (capable of easily following 8 different conversations at once) that seemed like a very long time. Especially when he was dying to know something.

He slyly used his peripheral vision to see Bella pull out a piece of paper from her pocket, unfold it and bounce with happiness. He had never seen her like this; now his curiosity was killing him.

"All right, I give. What has you so excited?" he asked with desperation in his voice. Her silence and her blood were his two main tortures, right now the first dominating the other.

"Last night I got this letter from one of my friends!" she exclaimed, smoothing out the wrinkled sheet on her lap. "She used to live here until she moved away when we were twelve; her and Jacob were basically the only friends I made, since I was super shy back then when I came here."

Edward cocked an eyebrow. Yes, it was news-worthy, but he didn't see why she was so excited. She had plenty of friends now…though if she could hear their thoughts like he could, she might want to reconsider a few.

Perhaps he wasn't as good at these human emotions as he had thought.

"That's nice, you must be excited," he said as he slid easily and smoothly into a parking spot next to Rose's red convertible. He scoffed at the crowd of boys ogling it; it had been there every morning for a few months, yet they still wouldn't stop lusting after the vehicle.

"Yeah. I know it sounds silly but we were such good friends; her and my dad were the only things I looked forward to when I used to spend some time here. But when she moved away, it wasn't as fun. We kept in touch, but it's kind of hard to stay connected when you're literally an ocean apart." She gazed off for a moment before continuing, the smile growing on her face. "Anyways, she's moving back to America, to Forks, since her dad got his old job back. She's going to be going to school with us, and I can't wait for the guys to meet her, they'll love her!"

They stopped at her locker, Bella continuing on and on about her friend. Normally Edward would listen intently, seeing if he could possibly learn anything new about Bella from this information, but he was worried about other things.

If this new girl is such a good friend of Bella's then she might notice the things about them like Bella did; their changing eyes, pale skin and strange attendance choices. He highly doubted Bella would make friends with a moron, though Mike Newton and Jessica Stanley were quite the exceptions.

Though he trusted Bella completely and so did most of his family (save Rose and maybe Jasper), they wouldn't be able to trust this friend. It was risky enough that they were sitting with Bella's human friends at lunch, close enough for them to notice the difference between the two crowds. Now he would have to deal with another human risk.

They entered the cafeteria and sat down, Edward ignoring his siblings questioning thoughts focused on his distracted expression. Maybe he should start listening again…

"…God I can't believe Mr. Banner is giving us a test on a Monday!" Mike complained. He was thinking about all the nights he was supposed to have studied, and how it would affect his test score. Frankly, he deserved it.

"It should be easy as long as you study." Jessica reassured him. He stared at her blankly then turned back to zoning off, looking at the folder in front of him. He was so crude and impolite.

"Bella, why don't you tell them about your news," Edward waved his hand at the moronic humans in front of him, who all perked up at the potential of _good _news on a Monday.

"Oh…uh…well…" she stuttered, uncomfortable with being the center of attention. "I got a letter from one of my friends, saying she's moving back to Forks and she'll be going to school with us."

_Great, another girl for Mike to gawk at_, Jessica Stanley thought dejectedly.

_Sweet! I hope she's hot!_ Mike and Eric thought in unison, mentally fist-pumping.

_I wonder if she's like Bella. I bet she'll be nice…_That was Angela, as usual being almost as selfless and considerate as Bella.

_Who cares!_ Lauren Mallory shrieked in her head, her hand twitching.

He winced at Rosalie's mental panicking and Alice's delight for the chance at another fashion guinea pig. Emmett and Jasper didn't really care. Good; if Jasper conceived the same thoughts Edward had, he would distrust Bella even more.

And as usual, silence from Bella. Frustrating.

The 10 minute warning bell rang and Edward internally groaned at the impending separation from Bella.

He meandered through his classes until he got to lunch and had his allotted time in school with Bella, then again in Biology. In this time he learned that her friend, Lyra, had immigrated to America when she was 7, only to move back to Europe again when she was 12. And apparently Bella and Charlie were going to pick up her and her family tomorrow after school.

Finally, Edward waited by his car for his girlfriend. So far, he wasn't hearing the end of this friend of Bella's, and he hoped to whatever power there was that Alice would pick up his end of the conversation when they went to his house in a few minutes.

As they drove, Bella was silent, something for once he relished. He had never seen her talk so much to so many people; usually she was quiet and reserved except with her small group of friends and him. It had gotten to the point where she was talking like Jessica: non-stop and really fast.

"Bella!" Esme cheered as they all piled into the house. Rosalie stalked past and dragged Emmett off to their room while Jasper plopped down on the couch and Alice waited patiently for Esme to stop hugging Bella. Edward laughed aloud at her _impatient_ thoughts.

"What's the hurry Alice?" he asked teasingly. She stuck out her tiny tongue at him then hulled Bella up to her room, where she would unsuccessfully try to dress Bella in a week's worth of outfits.

Edward sat down at his beloved piano and started playing Bella's song softly. Her touched silence was the kind of silence he adored most.

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It was Tuesday, a once normal and boring day now turned into some big hype. It was the arrival date of Bella's European friend. Now, because of this, he sat alone up in his room reading a book he had read a hundred times to pass the boredom.

He was dying to call her, to hear Bella's musical voice, but he knew it wasn't a proper time for that. She was with a friend. He wanted her to have friends, to be as human as possible since she seemed so against that path, but he also wanted her all to himself, all the time. It was a difficult battle to fight, especially since it was not only in his head, but his physical body as well.

Only 12 hours, 33 minutes and 47 seconds until he would see his love again.

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Edward had been waiting for 10 minutes outside Bella's house. She had told him to go wait in the car for her, that she would be down in a minute. Usually this meant that she was down within 2 minutes, because she just had to grab a quick breakfast or brush her teeth.

Not today, apparently.

She was on the phone with someone, he couldn't hear who. Probably her new friend. Edward had never seen this side of Bella before, and if both frustrated and fascinated him. Bella was in there chatting away, like a typical girl talking to her best girlfriend.

Drastic times, like being late for school, called for drastic measures. So he honked his horn, hearing the short and sudden faster beat of her heart at the loud noise. He sighed and shook his head as she stumbled out of her house, locking the door.

"Sorry," she apologized as she buckled her seatbelt. He was already halfway down the road by then.

"It's all right. I know you're happy she's here," he reassured her. She gave him a quizzical look before he tapped his ear, indicating he could hear her. She always seemed to forget those things, which always earned him a delightful blush across her creamy skin.

They pulled in and sat in their usual places. Mike and Eric were whispering to each other about what this new girl might look like. It was exactly like when Bella had arrived here; like flashing a shiny object at a child. Humans were so easily distracted.

Bella took out her unfinished homework, but stopped when her cell phone vibrated. She flipped it open and scrolled through the text she had gotten, then her face lit up.

"Sorry guys, but I gotta go. Lyra's lost, though I don't know how that's possible in this school," she laughed. Kissing Edward's cheek, she hurried out the cafeteria entrance and was gone.

He hadn't even met her and Edward was really starting to not like this girl.

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Once again, Bella was with Lyra. Edward hadn't even met her yet, even though everybody else got a sighting but him. It was Friday; he had skipped the Biology lab on Wednesday and Thursday all together because it had been sunny. So today he would finally get a glance at this new wonder girl.

He was still annoyed though. Yes, he understood that Bella had friends, but he hadn't been allowed in her room at night because Lyra was there, he hadn't been allowed over because they were catching up, she had no time to go to his house, he had missed almost two days with her and now she was getting a ride from her friend. It was the first time in many months that he had felt thoroughly frustrated with Bella.

So he waited by Bella's locker for her arrival, the seconds ticking by painfully slow. He didn't flinch or even acknowledge Rosalie as she strutted past him, thinking daggers at his girlfriend, though she knew perfectly well he could hear her.

_I thought she was a threat before, but now it turns out she's an idiot too! Doesn't she realize what this could do to us? If she cares about Edward so much…she's probably just into him to be into him, she doesn't give a rat's ass about the rest of his family! God, just wait 'til Jasper hears this!_ He frowned at that last part. He had been hoping to avoid telling Jasper, since he had planned on _killing_ Bella when he found out she knew their secret. He most likely wouldn't show the same 'mercy' if something happened with this Lyra girl.

As he was musing, he picked up the shouting thoughts of Mike Newton down the hall.

_Holy shit! Look at her! How could _Bella_ be friends with _her_? She's totally hot! Look at those legs; damn girl!_

Edward's head snapped up and immediately went to Bella, hardly acknowledging the dark haired girl beside her. Bella stopped in front of him and he kissed her softly but passionately, making up for the past few days they had been apart.

"Hi," she said breathlessly. Someone close giggled, probably her friend. "Edward, this is Lyra, the friend I was telling you about," she gestured to her right at the girl.

And in the second their eyes met, Edward knew there was something strange about her.

For one, her thoughts were muted, barely there. He could make out some words, but they were in some other language, what sounded like Russian, so he couldn't understand. Her thoughts were like Charlie's, quiet and muted, but not totally silent like Bella's.

Second, she smelled odd. Not in a bad way, but in a very good way. Her blood smelled sweet, like Bella's, but not nearly as potent. It was still a lot better than the other teenagers around them. He could tell she wasn't wearing perfume, but she had a natural scent, like the flowers that adorned her shirt. That was odd; usually humans didn't.

"Hello," she said with a semi-thick Slavic accent. "My name's Lyra Valarchev; you must be Edward. Bella has told me a lot about you, though you were right," her gaze shifted to Bella. "Your explanation doesn't do him justice," she turned her eyes back on him. She wasn't flirting, but he found something alluring about her deep black eyes and thick lashes. If could blush, he would have done so at her compliment.

"I'm glad you're finally here; Bella was very excited about you coming back."

"It's good to be back, thought I hardly remember any of the people, much less the people in this school." At least she was fluent in English, despite her accent.

"Well I'm sure it'll come back," Bella assured. Something ran through Lyra's dark eyes, but it was gone in a second. "Let's go to the cafeteria; I know Mike and Angela want to see you again." Bella wiggled her eyes at the mention of that vile Newton kid, and Lyra laughed, nearly concealing all of her uncomfortableness.

In the time that they were walking to the cafeteria, Edward had more time to study Lyra and how Bella acted around her. They were obviously comfortable around each other, and thrilled to be reunited. Lyra seemed to bring out another more social side in Bella, and he was starting to like it.

Lyra herself was an interesting character; how strange. Now that Bella was the center of his life, he actually found humans and their personalities slightly intriguing. He paid more attention to their expressions and their attitudes. Edward was also getting better at reading people, even though he could still hear their thoughts.

He was surprised to find out that Bella was the conversation instigator, and Lyra the responder. Lyra seemed like a livid person at first glance, but apparently she was shy, like Bella. Or like Bella had been, before her friend arrived. They fit together perfectly personality wise; they were both responsible, selfless, smart and they balanced each other out.

But physically, he couldn't imagine what had brought them together.

Bella was not plain, but nor was she beautiful in the 'hot' sense. She was uniquely beautiful, the best kind. Her features were almost as uncommon as her personality.

Lyra on the other hand was beautiful in the 'hot' sense, according to all the sheepish males around them. She had long legs, tan skin, long dark hair and matching deep, dark eyes. Her facial features were angular and pointy, but not so much so to make her odd looking. She wore fitting clothes and high heels that were girly, the kind of stuff human men liked.

Personally, Edward didn't care. Like he had said before, Esme would have been fine if Bella was some sort a mutant, and he would have been too.

Another feature that Edward noticed (thanks to the leering teenager boys around them) was that Lyra quite…well endowed. It might not have been so prominent if she wasn't so skinny and lean, but she was muscular yet feminine, fragile yet strong. It made her chest quite noticeable, perhaps not in a good way.

They made it to the table and he could hear the shock of his siblings at their table. Bella and his' companion wasn't exactly average.

"Lyra, hey," Mike said, trying to sound smooth. He sounded more like a creep, but that was just Edward's opinion. He guessed right when he said Lyra was selfless, because she replied back in kind and greeted everybody at the table before sitting down. Very European indeed.

"How you likin' school so far? It must be hard, switching from a Russian school to an American one," Mike drawled, ogling her from head to toe.

"It's not so bad. I lived here before so I'm a little accustomed to the system here. And I lived in Bulgaria, not Russia," she added. Ah, so she was Bulgarian. At least he was close when he said she was Slavic.

"What's the difference," Jessica asked stupidly. Moron.

"Bulgaria's Slavic, but its language and culture is a little more Mediterranean than other Slavic countries. It's like a semi-distant cousin to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus," she explained. So he was right again; she's fairly intelligent.

"Oh…" she finished lamely, put out that Lyra had answered her rhetorical question. Why Bella was friends with this idiotic girl, Edward did not know. Just then the warning bell rang and everybody was off to their classes, except him and his family. He prepared himself for the bombardment of questions.

_Is that the chick Bella was excited over?_

_Do you think she's a threat?_

_Did Bella tell her about us?_

_Can she come over?_

He ignored the last question, from Alice, and shook his head.

"I don't think she said anything. We can trust Bella. I guess we'll just have to be extra careful around this girl. She seems smart, and she's a lot like Bella."

"Meaning she'll most likely figure it out to!" Rose snarled. "She's from Europe Edward! Do you know how religious they are over there? If she notices the differences about us, then she'll be bound to figure it out! If Bella can, she can." Everyone scoffed at her theory.

"Don't worry Rose," Emmett slung his arm over her shoulder casually. "If she is some religious nut and she notices, she'll probably just stay away. If she _is_ like Bella then she'll just pretend not to notice or something. Right Edward?"

Edward was thankful Emmett was usually on his side. Despite what he led people to believe, he actually isn't a dimwit. And he did have a point in this case. If Lyra was as selfless as Bella, she wouldn't ruin, or try to ruin, Bella and his' relationship by telling her theories.

"Guys we don't have anything to worry about. Relax! Me and her will be best friends!" Alice chirped and skipped away to class.

"Yeah," Jasper said blankly and followed his wife out the door. Rose gave him a dirty look and stormed out, followed by Emmett who gave him an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders.

_Sorry man. We're all with you, just ignore Rosalie_.

"Always do," Edward joked. Emmett smirked and left, leaving thoughts of security with a hint of doubt.

_There probably isn't anything to worry about_, his brother thought to himself.

Edward just hoped for Lyra's sake that this was true.

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So? Eh, eh? What did you think? Should I take it down and throw it away or continue? I'd really like some feedback here guys…You have no idea the pressure this puts on me, since Twilight is nearly an obsession for some people. No offense to anybody who's a Twihard. I'm one myself :D

-cally (^o^)


	2. Drawing a Blank

The 2nd chapter to my first Twilight fanfic! Since one chapter isn't really enough to know if you want to keep reading something (at least that's what I think), I decided to get this one out there for another test-run.

**Summary**: Lyra has been in Forks for a week now and Edward finds himself learning more and more about her.

**Rating**: K+ this chapter, nothing bad happens, maybe a little language.

**Word Count**: Around 4.4k this time, how the hell did this one get so long? WTF?

**DISCLAIMER**: The only things I own are Lyra and the plot, the rest belong to S. Meyer.

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"Come on man! You can do better than that!" Emmett yelled as he dogged another slushball from Jasper. A moment after he said that, Jasper nailed him in the face with a large chunk of ice that shattered into a thousand pieces on contact.

"We have to get to school," Edward called as his two brothers continued their immature winter antics. They were definitely not above taking advantage of the half-snow half-water mix that had fallen during the night, even though it was nearly April. He was just thankful they hadn't targeted him or Rosalie yet. If any of that stuff got near her, there would be hell to pay.

"_We have to get to school_," Emmett mocked as he hit Jasper in the shoulder with one of the balls. Edward narrowed his eyes and glared at his brother, who answered with a booming laugh that echoed off their big house. Edward was physically the youngest in their family to be turned, and Emmett took it onto himself to play big brother. Meaning he mocked and teased Edward at any possibility.

The two oafs continued their game, so Edward gave up in annoyance and walked off to his car. But not before smacking them both in the face with huge snowballs, courtesy of Alice seeing for him when they wouldn't be paying attention. He saw their outraged looks through Rose's mind, snickered then drove off to Bella's house. She had finally gotten around to riding with him again.

Emmett had said that Edward was jealous, because Bella wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Lyra had gotten a fairly decent amount of attention from everybody in Forks, and was yet the one thing to distract Bella from Edward. It sounded selfish, because he was a little jealous, but he was essentially a selfish creature, especially when it came to Bella.

Bella, per usual, stumbled out of her house and carefully tread toward his car, careful not to slip in the watery mix below her feet. When she made it to the car safely he chuckled at the proud expression on her face.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied as he brushed a damp strand of hair off her shoulders. She glanced at him shyly and blushed. She always did this whenever he touched her, which was part of the reason why he did it so much.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked. Bella had recently grown dark circles under her eyes. Nightmares of James haunted her sleep frequently now, and for once Edward's presence never seemed to help.

"Yeah. I had to stay up late finishing my essay though." Ah, so that was why she was tired. They had all gotten a surprise essay in English to get ready for the upcoming, end-of-the-semester final. He had finished it the night it was assigned, but Bella tended to be a bit of a procrastinator. Admittedly it was partially his fault; he had been the distractor.

They walked through the school to their normal table and he waited idly for the bell to ring as Bella chit-chatted with her friends. Then his thoughts were caught when Alice scanned ahead into the future quickly; he usually just looked because he was curious, so it was nearly an automatic response whenever she did it now. But she got held up; then her mental voice was laced with panic.

_Edward!_ He turned his head in her direction to let her know he was watching. She flipped through visions of the future. And then it all turned blank. Nothing was there.

Now he was panicked too.

"What does it mean?" he asked under his breath so the humans around him wouldn't have a chance at hearing. Of course Bella noticed _something_ was going on, but only gave him a curious look.

_I don't know!_ Alice shrieked in her head. _I was just looking to see if Bella would like something I was planning to get her as a May Day gift, because I had the perfect idea, but it all turned up blank! Nothing past a month from now is showing up! _Edward's body stiffened at the thought of not seeing their future. It was one of his constant nightmares that plagued him, not having a future with Bella.

This was bad. This was really bad. They had no idea what was going to happen then, or what the blankness meant! Was Bella going to be dead by then? Is that what that meant?

_Edward calm down a little, I'm sure she's going to be fine…_ Alice read the expression on his face.

"How do you know?" he growled from behind his teeth. This time his other siblings heard and perked their heads up at them. He shook his head solemnly; he wouldn't tell them this yet. He was far too furious and detached right to even try to manage his expression. Thankfully Jasper felt the rage rolling off of him like waves, and sent a little calmness in his direction.

This was what allowed him to be distracted again, by the sound of heels clicking down lunchroom toward them. Great; he did not need to listen to all the chatter that was about to ensue.

Lyra sat down and was the immediate attention of all the people at their table, besides Alice and Edward. Mike, Eric and Tyler were all ogling her in their minds, like they had been doing since the day she had arrived a week ago. The only male besides Edward at the table actually paying attention to their girlfriend (or something else besides Lyra's chest) was Ben, who was dutifully encouraging Angela to do something, though he was trying very hard not to stare like the others. Edward gave him points for trying anyway.

The other girls at the table, Jessica and Lauren, were trying to capture the attention of their boyfriends, and getting angrier by the second that they weren't succeeding. Neither of them liked Lyra very much because of their boyfriend's antics; like territorial sharks in a _very_ small sea.

As all the humans around them conversed, Bella gave him a curious look and he just smiled at her. When the bell rang he tried his best act normal, but he could tell Bella wasn't buying it. Thankfully she decided to pursue another topic, though it wasn't much better if he planned on being honest, like he always tried to be.

"I'm so glad Lyra seems to like it here. I was worried she wouldn't; she's changed so much, I hardly recognize her. But Jessica and Angela seem to like her, so I guess she's adjusted good. She needs some friends like them." Bella exuded happiness at the mention of her friend making friends. She probably could understand how difficult that was. "Don't you think?"

"Yes. Angela seems to like her, but a friendship is the last thing on Jessica's mind." He said distractedly. When Bella stopped and looked at him, he realized his mistake.

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Uh…" how to say this? "Let's just say Mike likes Lyra a little _too_ much, and Jessica can tell. She's not thinking rainbows and sunshine toward her." Bella gawked.

"Mike _likes_ her? But he's with Jessica!" Edward laughed aloud at this, despite Bella's discouraging frown. How innocent Bella was to the workings of the male teen's thought process. She was so naïve it was funny.

"Bella, I don't think he cares very much that he's with Jessica right now. It's just like when you got here; all the boys imagined themselves in love with you because you were new. I'm sure it's the same with Lyra." He left out the part that Mike, Eric and Tyler had all still thought they were in love with her. At least before Lyra had come along.

"Oh…poor Jessica. I really wish she wasn't mad at Lyra, it's not her fault. She's always been the most beautiful, it guess it's just a given they'd all be in love with her."

"I could argue that," Edward whispered in her ear then kissed her sweetly. She was the only woman he would ever find to be the most beautiful. "_You_ are the most beautiful." She blushed just like he was hoping she would. He kissed her cheek and said goodbye, watching her walk away to class, swaying a bit.

She really was the one for him.

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Once Edward got home after dropping Bella off, he quickly got a call from his girlfriend. Apparently Lyra was cooking dinner for Charlie and Bella tonight, around the time he was allowed over, so she was warning him in case he didn't want to come.

"Silly girl," he teased. "Of course I'm still coming," he replied. He could practically hear her joy over the phone.

"Okay. I'm sorry that I've been spending so much time with her and away from you. I just haven't seen her in a long time and I'm glad she's back."

"I understand, there's no reason to be sorry."

"Good. I just didn't want you to think I'm neglecting you or something," she teased. Truthfully, he did feel a bit left out, but he couldn't be there every moment of her life like he had thought. This was just one of those times.

So when it was 6 o'clock he headed off to Bella's house, anxious to see her again. He quickly pulled in and flashed to the door, too impatient to keep up the human pretense when he was alone.

Bella opened the door with a huge smile and immediately he kissed her. When he heard Charlie's footsteps he pulled away with a chuckle.

"Edward," Bella's father greeted him curtly. He was still not over Bella's disappearance, since their story basically made it all Edward's fault that his daughter had been hurt. Which it was anyway.

He took off his coat and grabbed Bella's hand, following her into the kitchen. The smell of tomatoes and cooking meat filled his nostrils and he repressed the urge to scrunch up his face. Human food no longer held any appeal whatsoever to him; it was actually rather repulsive. The meat wasn't so bad, but the raw ingredients laid out along the counter weren't that appetizing.

Lyra stood in front of a sizzling pan where the meat was cooking. She had tied her hair back so it wouldn't get in the food. She looked up at him and smiled when she saw them enter. As he surveyed the foods on the cutting boards and the counter, he deduced that she was making lasagna.

"Hello Edward, it was nice of you to come," she greeted.

"Thank you for letting me. I don't want to intrude." When he received a skeptical look from both girls, he continued. "I'm afraid that I don't have room for any more food tonight; Esme is big on family dinners and skipping is not an option," he lied smoothly. He saw Bella chuckle into her hand next to him; it _was_ partially true...

"I know the feeling. My mother is exactly like that," Lyra agreed, though he thought she was lying. With how skinny and fit she was, he highly doubted it.

"It'll be done in about half an hour, so just have a seat somewhere," Lyra motioned to the living room where the sounds of football were coming from.

As he walked into the living room to sit down, Bella let go of his hand. He looked back to see her walking over to help Lyra with the food. He didn't like the look of the chef's knife she was reaching for. But then Lyra grabbed her wrist before she picked it up.

"Maybe I should do that," she motioned to the onion that was about to go under the knife. "You can cook the meat, even though you're not supposed to be helping _at all_." Her words sounded critical but she said them jokingly. Bella just laughed and Edward breathed a sigh of relief that Bella wouldn't be handling any eight-inch-long pointy objects.

But then he noticed how delicate Lyra looked, and suddenly he didn't like the idea of her holding that knife either. She looked too fragile, despite her healthy disposition. Strange…

"Would you like some help?" he asked. But Lyra just turned around, smiled and declined politely. He watched as she chopped up that onion surprisingly fast and efficiently. Of course; she was probably used to cooking all the time, being from Europe.

Turning back to the TV he caught a drift of Charlie's thoughts and froze. Charlie was emitting pure rage and trying to control it. He was focusing on Edward, but Lyra was also in his thoughts. When Edward finally understood why Charlie was glaring daggers at him, he wanted to burst out laughing.

Charlie thought he was checking Lyra out.

The thought was extremely absurd, but he guessed Charlie didn't understand the pure love and attachment he felt for Bella. She was the only woman he would ever look at that way. As he tried to control his urge to laugh, Bella came over and sat close to him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, hoping this would calm Charlie down. But it did the opposite; God, did Charlie really hate him so much to think he would look at anybody else but the beautiful goddess next to him?

Eventually the meal was done and they ate. Apparently Lyra was a magnificent cook, because she got compliments from both of the Swan's; Charlie went back for seconds and thirds. Bella herself got a second serving as well. Lyra only ate once, further proving his theory about her thinness. And surprisingly, it didn't smeel that repulsive. Usually cooked human food was better than the raw ingredients, but this even smelled a little good to Edward.

When they were done, and Bella finally managed to dissuade Lyra from cleaning the dishes, Charlie started talking about, of course, Lyra. He asked her about her life in Bulgaria, what she did, how she lived.

"Are you still in gymnastics?" Bella asked. Lyra nodded and went on to talk about all the competitions she had been in and won. Edward guessed that she must be a fairly decent gymnast, because he knew of all the big competitions she spoke of winning, and they were very prestigious. Though how she managed, he didn't know.

He remembered how Rose had tried to get into gymnastics but had had a hard time because of her...er...bust, and Lyra was more…well-endowed than Rosalie, so it must be difficult. He grimaced at himself, feeling awkward that the thought had even crossed his mind. God, why did he even think of that?

"I'm still interested in it, but I'm more focused on my studies now. I don't have much time for it anymore, but I still stretch and practice in the exercise room we have downstairs."

There it was again. That flash in her eyes that was gone as quickly as it came. Neither Bella nor Charlie seemed to notice, but Edward did. He had seen it several times over the week that she had been here. It seemed to happen when she brought up things about her past or when she had lived in Bulgaria. He thought it looked like pain or sorrow, but why she would be sad over that he couldn't guess.

The friendly chatter continued until around 8:30, meanwhile he just sat there and listened politely, holding Bella's hand and speaking only when he needed to. Edward understood why Bella invited him, because she was just as eager to be with him and he was to be with her, but this was obviously a gathering between old friends and he was the spare wheel. Charlie evidently thought so too.

By 8:30, Bella and Lyra got up to clean the dishes, his help once again refused. They chatted about girl things while he sat in awkward silence, watching the basketball game that was now on with Charlie.

Finally it was a decent time for him to leave.

"It was nice seeing you again," Lyra said as he put on his coat.

"It was nice getting to know one of Bella's friends," he replied. Though he didn't particularly care, he had learned a lot about her tonight.

When they were alone by his care, Edward kissed Bella passionately before whispering in her ear that he would be back later. He brushed his nose and lips along her neck teasingly as she giggled at his suggestive tone. He kissed her cheek before driving off, already impatient to go back.

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It was nearly 10 o'clock before he made it back to Bella's house. He quickly scaled the wall and climbed through her open window. He heard the sound of snoring and a shower running; Bella was showering before bed, while Charlie was already asleep. So he waited in the corner rocking chair, pressing his lips together in amusement when Bella obliviously walked right past him in her tatty (and somewhat sexy) pajamas.

"Have a nice shower?" he asked and laughed quietly when she turned around in surprise, her hand flying to her throat.

"Oh. Edward. I should have known it was you." She made her way over to him and sat in his lap, pressing her wet head against his shoulder. Wrapping his arms around her small body, he rocked them back and forth. "You'd think I'd be used to you showing up like this."

"It's a human instinct, to get defensive when you're startled," he assured her and kissed the top of her damp hair. They rocked for a while longer before Bella asked,

"Are you going to stay all night?"

"Yes, if you'll have me. No way I want to go back home right now. Rose is in a rage because Emmett is ignoring her. He's too preoccupied having a snowball fight with Alice and Jasper, though I don't see how he could win that match." He chuckled at the thought.

"Oh," she paused. "Hey…I hate to ruin the moment, but since I'm clumsy and loud and it's almost 10:30, would you get me a bottle of water from the fridge? I'm thirsty."

Automatically, Edward picked her up bridal style and laid her down on her bed, tucking her under the covers with a huge grin on his face.

"Just a moment mademoiselle," he whispered before he was downstairs in the small kitchen. He soundlessly opened the refrigerator and grabbed the last bottle of cold water. As he was about to head up, he spotted something shiny on the ground.

Picking it up, he examined it and saw that it was a bracelet with something written on the flat disk portion. Lyra, in Cyrillic. She must have dropped it when she was cooking, or it might have fallen off. Shrugging, he tucked it in his pocket and returned to Bella's room.

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The next day at school, Edward picked Bella up like usual, but didn't kiss her. Last night Bella had tried to push his limits again and he had nearly given in. Thankfully, he pushed her away before he kissed her _too_ vigorously. His lapse in control made him more cautious and proper than normal, like every other time this happened.

Bella noticed this and sat silently the whole way to school, not looking at him. She knew she had frustrated him, or made him frustrated with himself, and felt bad about it.

"Bella, it's nothing to avoid me over," he told her as he parked.

"I know. I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Bella, I'm eager enough, I just don't trust myself. Please, love, just forget about it," he pleaded. She turned to him and smiled brightly then hopped out of the car. He followed suit and felt the jingling of Lyra's bracelet in his pants pocket. "I'll see you in class," he said. Bella had come in early to ask one of her teachers something and he took this time to hunt down Lyra. She was at her locker, having just arrived. He caught her just as she started walking away.

"Lyra!" he called loud enough for her to hear. She turned around, her eyes widening when she saw it was him.

"Yes?"

"Here," he pulled out the bracelet and dropped it in her hand, careful not to make contact with her warm skin. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him in confusion and perhaps a little fear; she mustn't recall losing it. "You left it at Bella's last night," he confirmed and she relaxed.

"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you gave it back, this bracelet means a lot to me." She said and tucked it in her skirt pocket. Today she chose blue as her color. She started walking and, not wanting to be rude, he followed and inquired about the bracelet. "My grandmother had it made for me. It was the last present she gave me before she died," she said solemnly. Oh. Probably not the best idea to ask about it now.

"Oh…I'm sorry." He said awkwardly. That seemed to happen a lot with this girl.

"It's all right, she died three years ago, and she was very sick before that, so now she's moved on to heaven and is in peace." Great, so she was religious. Not that he had anything against religion, but now Rosalie's theory was starting to have some sense to it.

"Oh…" that was all he could ever say to her. She laughed at his lame response. They sat down at the table and a few minutes later were joined by Bella.

He made his way off to Spanish after the bell rang and sat down, ignoring Emmett when he sat in his seat next to him. What he wasn't prepared for was what his brother said.

"So you seem pretty friendly with the Russian chick. What does Bella think about that?" he meant it jokingly, but there was also a redolent tone in his voice that made Edward mad. Was he really suggesting that?

"I was just returning the bracelet I found in Bella's kitchen. She cooked dinner for them last night and must have left it."

"Why didn't you let Bella give it back?"

"Because she was nearly asleep when I found it! And she's Bulgarian not Russian," he defended, though the first part wasn't completely true. Why hadn't he given it to Bella?

"Whatever," Emmett replied cynically smirking as he looked at Mrs. Goff, paying attention to her lesson on irregular verbs review.

As class got out, he stormed out of the Spanish portable and stomped across the field to the main building. But he didn't see the girl he ran into and he consequently knocked some of the papers out of her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said distractedly.

"Are you all right Edward?" an accented voice asked. He looked up to see Lyra. For the love of all that was holy, he could not get away from this girl!

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for bumping you," he apologized as he handed back her papers. There was a note on top and he caught a glimpse, barely containing his surprise at the words there. When she saw his expression, her heart rate sped up in suspicion. So he just smiled and walked away, pretending not to know what he had just seen.

The letter had been written in Bulgarian, and he didn't know why she was carrying it around, but he had made out one word, thanks to his widely Slavic fluency.

Fiancé.

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Oh! It's a cliffy! By the way, the last line won't be brought up until a few chapters later...XD Tell me what you guys think. This chapter is kind of just a test run, to see if all you readers still want to hear more. So review please! :D

-cally (^o^)


	3. Making You Happy

Since I got a fairly decent response to the last two chapters, I'm going to keep writing, so here's the third chapter of A Change of Heart.

**Summary**: Edward is confused when Bella starts getting jealous over reasons he can't understand, and for once Emmett's advice on the matter doesn't help.

**Rating**: K+ for language and a jealous Bella XD

**Word Count**: A little over 4k, this is a really long chapter. Nine pages on Microsoft Word…ugh, so much typing…

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight. Duh.

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Something was not right. What was happening was not normal and Edward was not the only one who thought so. Were pigs taking off in flight somewhere? Were the aliens invading?

Everybody in his family, including Bella, were all staring open mouthed at Lyra, unable to form a coherent thought. Well, maybe one.

_What the hell?_

They all stared on as Rosalie, yes _Rosalie_, casually chatted with the dark haired girl sitting next to her. They were talking about fashion, of course, but still. _Rosalie_ was _talking_ to _Lyra_. To a human. She detested mortals, Bella even more so, yet here she was, sitting there like everything was completely normal, conversing away.

"…Is the apocalypse coming?" Alice asked. Even she hadn't foreseen this.

"You tell me, you're the psychic," Edward replied, still floored. This was totally unexpected.

Finally Lyra noticed them staring at her open mouthed and tilted her head questioningly. Rosalie turned to look at them and just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Yeah, like this was normal.

"Watcha talkin' about babe?" Emmett asked as he came up behind his wife.

"Shoes. Lyra has amazing fashion sense, I was asking her where she gets her clothes from," Rosalie answered, her tone adding the 'of course'. Lyra flushed at her compliment and they continued their conversation, the word 'fashion' perking Alice's interest. Good God, now she was joining in too.

He looked over at Bella and saw her staring at Lyra with an odd expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"…Rosalie's talking to Lyra." He waited for her to continue, but she didn't.

"Yes…"

"That's not normal right?" she asked in a high-pitched voice.

"No, it most certainly isn't, but I guess Lyra is still full of surprises." He said dryly. Since the dinner last week at Bella's house, Edward had learned that Lyra was: fluent in Russian, had a brother, loved flowers, loved to shop, had 31 pairs of shoes, danced, liked to sing, and was a gold metal champion in several gymnastic tournaments. All things he didn't really want to know, but had picked up from Bella's questions.

"Yeah," Bella said numbly and sat down, flipping open her book to read a section distractedly. Edward's brow creased with worry. This wasn't like Bella; she was completely altruistic, so he had thought she would be happy about this, about Lyra making friends, even if that friend was Rosalie. She had said from the beginning that she was worried Lyra wouldn't make friends.

A few minutes later, he looked at Jessica, who was glancing between Lyra and Mike (whose attention was once again _not_ focused on Lyra's face, but lower) and saw the same expression Bella had had moments ago.

She was jealous.

Edward wanted to laugh out loud; being jealous of Lyra just because she somehow managed to start up a conversation with Rosalie was hardly something to be envious of. Rosalie was not the kind of person to be resentful of, at least in Edward's mind. She was shallow and self-centered; more than any human he had ever met, so the conversation probably wouldn't last very long.

Turns out, he was right; it looked like the conversation was dying down anyway, ending as quickly as it had begun. Rosalie got up and walked out, Emmett following her, leaving Lyra by herself on the other side of the table. She flipped open her book English book and started reading, so there was a silence across the table. Apparently nobody had done their homework; books were open everywhere in the cafeteria.

Suddenly, as he was watching Bella unconsciously twirl a strand of hair around her finger as she read, Lyra's head looked up at them.

"Hey, does anybody know what unequivocally means?" she asked, sounding embarrassed. Nobody at their table answered. Edward felt bad for Lyra; it had been years since she had been to the United States and her English had slipped away a little bit. He had seen her struggle to remember the right word several times.

"It means unambiguous," he answered. She kept on looking at him; she probably didn't know that word either. "That something only has one meaning; there are no conditions, it's absolute." It was the exactly how he felt about Bella.

"Oh, thanks." She continued reading. He turned to see Bella with that look on her face again and he frowned. She looked down and continued reading, ignoring him until he said they would be late if they didn't leave.

Edward pondered this all day, through all his classes. Bella was jealous of Lyra because she was talking to Rosalie, as well as jealous again for some reason concerning him. He couldn't figure it out. He had no time to ask her because they watched a movie in Biology so there was no way they could get away with a conversation, and at lunch Bella's attention was focused purposefully on a conversation with Angela and Connor.

So in Spanish, he asked Emmett about it and got laughed at.

"Man, you really know nothing about women," he teased.

"Yeah, that's why I'm asking you," Edward muttered.

"You and Lyra get along well; add the fact that Rosalie is talking to Lyra when she can hardly stand being around Bella and that'll probably make Bella jealous. It's a girl thing; when they see other girls do something they haven't or when their boyfriends get along good with their other girl-friends, they get jealous."

"But we don't get along!" Emmett gave him a skeptical look. "I mean, we don't fight or anything, but we hardly talk at all. I don't see how that would evoke jealousy in someone, especially Bella."

"Yeah, well, women are weird. You'll learn soon enough; this probably won't be the last time Bella is jealous," he said with a suggestive tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dude, look at that chick! She's hot, she's smart and she's foreign, everything a guy likes. She'll get a lot of attention that Bella isn't get; even if she says she doesn't want it, she does. For girls, they get jealous over those things instinctually."

"…I really hope I get all this stuff soon…" Edward said anxiously. He had never had to deal with a jealous Bella before and frankly, he didn't want to.

Emmett just laughed and turned away from him. Apparently their conversation about women had reminded him of his latest 'conquest' with Rose, and he went on to fantasize about his wife, which made him of no further use on the subject as Edward fruitlessly tried to block him out of his mind. He really didn't need to hear that.

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Edward was at home when Bella called him. He had been doing the homework that had been assigned when his phone vibrated. Immediately his face lit up when he saw it was Bella. But his good mood died quickly.

That Quileute kid had invited Bella down to the reservation.

Bella quickly assured him that it was now going to be at her house and that he was invited, so he could make sure 'Billy' didn't spill the beans to Charlie about him and his family. Damn straight he was going; he would have gone even if he hadn't been invited. It was this 'Jacob' that had tipped Bella off about the vampire possibility in the first place, way back when she was still suspicious of the Cullen family. He couldn't take chances.

Snapping his phone shut angrily, he stomped downstairs to go run somewhere.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Esme asked in her motherly tone.

"Nothing," he spat and ran full speed out the porch door and into the forest. Running always calmed him down.

He made it to the Canadian border before he finally calmed down. The Quileutes had already broken the treaty by telling someone about his family, yet Carlisle and Bella both insisted that it wasn't the Indian boy's fault, that it was just an innocent blunder. He had been fine with it, until Billy Black, son of Ephraim Black, had nearly told Charlie about who, or _what_, his daughter was dating. Ever since then, the Quils had not been in his good graces. And now one of them wanted to 'hang out' with Bella; it may be an innocent get together, but he still didn't like it.

Guilt started creeping up on Edward, and he sighed, beginning to run back home. Esme must feel awful, thinking she had done something wrong. He always felt terrible when he did that to Esme in his bouts of anger.

He also knew his rage toward the people on the reservation was unjustified. It had been a mere slip up for the boy to tell Bella, because he did not believe in the old legends his elders had told him. Bella cared for him, so Edward lent him some line, since it wasn't really his fault.

The first thing Edward did when he got home was find Esme and apologize. Of course she assured him she was fine, that she understood, but she always did that and it made him feel worse. He slunk up to his room and fell onto his couch, resuming what he had been doing before.

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Finally it was the weekend. Edward was thankful for this, because that meant he was free from school and had time to spend with Bella. Though this time it wasn't without a price.

Alice had somehow persuaded Bella to go shopping with her, and in her desperation, Bella had begged Edward to go with her to Seattle. He had agreed and had also thrown in a warning to Alice. Last time she had dragged Bella along with her, they had had some big explaining to do to Charlie, because apparently he didn't like people spending loads of money on his daughter. Only Edward knew it was because Charlie himself couldn't, because of his slightly-below-average-paying job.

Edward drove the three of them to Seattle, the closest decent mall that was good for shopping. Port Angeles didn't cut it with Alice.

He was dragged through store after store and had to wait for a half an hour outside several female-only dressing rooms. Alice bought way too much stuff for Bella to be happy. Thankfully though, Bella managed to talk her out of some high heels she had found. Edward would have loved to see her wear them, because they made her look very sexy, but her safety was the first priority; she probably would have broken her ankle trying to walk in them. The thought made him wince.

Bella had bargained with Alice that she would only go if they could stop at a bookstore before they left. Bookstores were pretty much the only place Bella ever went shopping, because she was satisfied with all her clothes, despite Alice's whining for her to get new ones.

All had been going well; Bella was looking at a sci-fi book and Alice had been scrolling through magazines when they heard someone greet them.

"Bella?" the voice asked in astonishment. Of course. It was Lyra, grinning from ear to ear.

_This is getting weird_, Edward thought. She was nice enough, but she seemed to turn up everywhere and it was starting to feel like she was following them or something. Damn his paranoia…

"Lyra? Wow, what are you doing here?" Bella inquired with equal astonishment as her friend.

"Just buying a dictionary." Lyra held up an English dictionary she had bought. "I guess I'm a little out of practice with my English, because I keep running into words I don't know." She glanced at Edward, who just smiled.

"Why don't you ask for help? I'm sure people will tell you." Alice insisted. Her thoughts surprised him. She was happy to see Lyra; in fact she wanted to be friends with her, just like when Edward started liking Bella. He grimaced at her next thought.

She was going to invite Lyra to go to dinner with them.

"I was, but people started getting annoyed or their explanations confused me. Don't worry, I've had to use one of these before. I have no idea why I left my other dictionary back in Bulgaria though…" she mused.

"Hey, since we're all here and we're just about done," Alice waved to their group. "Why don't you come to dinner with us? I know this great restaurant a few roads down." Was it just Edward, or was Alice trying to sound a little _too _persuasive?

Lyra regarded Bella uncertainly, for permission, but when Bella looked just as eager as Alice, she quickly agreed with a big smile.

"Okay, well, let me go buy this and we can be off!" Bella announced and walked off to the register with Alice. Leaving Lyra and Edward standing next to each other in awkward silence.

After a minute, Lyra took out her book and began searching through it, and thankfully inspired a genuine question for him to ask.

"So…what's it like in Bulgaria?" he asked uneasily. It was one of the few countries he hadn't bothered to visit yet.

"Its…good." She said with a laugh in her soft voice. "I love America, but Bulgaria with always be my home. There I..._fit in_ more. I feel more comfortable there; I don't have to translate before I talk and I don't have to worry about how different I look. In fact over there I'm known as the American girl, yet when I'm here I'm known as the European girl." She laughed another tinkling laugh.

"So you miss it?"

"Yes, I suppose I do; parts of it anyway."

"What do you mean?" he asked politely. But her face grew dark and she looked down, fidgeting with her purchase bag.

"We moved here mainly because my dad got his job back at the company he used to work for, but there were...other reasons."

"Oh," he replied lamely. The tone of her voice ended the conversation and said she didn't want to talk about it, so he wouldn't push her further. "Well, I hope everything turned out all right."

"Yes, for the most part it did. I'm happy here and I don't plan on moving back to Bulgaria any time soon." She finished and smiled at him, though there was pain and homesickness in her eyes. He was about to say something to console her, he didn't know what, but then Bella returned with her purchase.

"All right let's go! Alice found this great place that has karaoke," Bella explained, looking slightly nervous at the possibility of singing.

"That sounds lovely," Lyra replied, her voice slightly shaky. She turned and started heading toward the food court and Bella gave him an inquisitive look. Oh yes, she was going to ask about it later.

When they were seated at the restaurant, Edward went into solitary mode. This was obviously a girl thing that they were about to start, so he just sat by quietly as they chatted. Lyra and Alice sang a song before Bella and Lyra's food came; I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler.

Edward was surprised by what a good voice Lyra had. Singing seemed to be her output, like playing the piano was to him. They both liked music; at least they had one thing in common besides Bella.

But halfway through the song he caught that jealous tint in Bella's eyes and grabbed her hand. He assured her she was the most beautiful one there, and by the time the two girls got off the stage, after an enormous applause, Bella had switched sides with Alice so she was sitting next to her boyfriend.

After that, the lunch was quiet and pleasant for the most part. At least between the girls; Bella made conversation with her friend, but in the short bouts of silence, Lyra would look over at him for a second and look down when he looked back. Obviously there was something she wanted to tell him, or something bothersome that she was thinking about, but all he could get from her clouded mind was foggy pictures.

After fighting off both Bella and Lyra when they tried to pay the bill, he paid and they left, saying goodbye to Lyra. Edward had actually enjoyed her company, but he did want some alone time with Bella. They so rarely had any.

So when they got to Bella's house and were out of Charlie's sight, Edward promptly picked her up, kissed her and rushed to their room, where they continued.

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The Monday after, they all returned to school. Bella had had to ask her teacher some questions that morning, so Edward wandered around the school aimlessly before he headed for the cafeteria. That was when he saw Lyra sitting there alone, with a frustrated expression marring her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he sat down.

"I don't know _one_ word, yet this dictionary keeps leading me around and I still don't understand it!" she slammed her tiny fists onto the table.

For the next few minutes, Edward helped her sort things out. He felt sorry for her, having to be in a country when she didn't fully understand the language. Especially since she was in all AP or Honors classes, which tended to use advanced vocabulary.

He bid her farewell when she left and headed off to class. When the time came for Biology, he eagerly awaited the arrival of his girlfriend. But when she sat down next to him, she just nodded in acknowledgement and watched the rest of the movie from Friday, thoroughly ignoring him. He wondered what he had done this time.

When he asked her about it, she just said it was nothing and that she was in a bad mood that day.

So Edward just worried silently about what he had done wrong.

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It was Wednesday and Bella was still in a sour mood, not talking to anybody, including Edward. More people had noticed, but she just brushed everybody off. When Lyra discreetly (and kindly) asked if it was 'that time of the month', Bella got all offended and marched away, leaving a staggered friend behind.

So Edward decided to go to Bella's house that night, to talk to her when Charlie was asleep. The past two nights she had asked him not to come and had closed her window, but tonight, whether her window was closed or not, he would talk to her.

But when he got there, he did not expect to hear what he did.

"Lyra, all I'm asking is that you stay away from him! It's not that much, considering you hardly know him!" Bella was saying and Edward clung to the tree by her window, out of sight.

"_Bella, why are you being like this? I haven't done anything, you're being ridiculous!_" Lyra retorted over the line.

"Lyra please, if you're my friend just do as I ask. I feel uncomfortable that you two are so friendly, okay?" 'Friendly'? Since when were him and Lyra 'friendly'?

"_Bella, he was just helping me with an English assignment because I didn't understand one word and my dictionary was confusing me! That's all! He's made it quite clear that he doesn't have any interest in me or anybody else, at least _that_ way, and I have no interest in him! I'm surprised we're even having this conversation; he's fawning over you all the time, it's obvious he's in love with you._" Lyra explained.

Was he hearing this right? Bella was telling Lyra to stay away from him? Lyra had said she didn't have feelings for him and he didn't have feelings for her. Did Bella really think that he was interested in her best friend? He would never think of doing something like that. Bella was his whole life, the center of his world!

"Lyra, just…Gah! Stay away from him all right?" she screeched silently and angrily pushed the disconnect button, the line going dead. She stomped downstairs and slammed the phone back into the stand, huffing her way back up. By that time, Edward was fuming at her computer, his arms crossed and waiting. She gasped when she saw him.

"Edward! Oh, I didn't know you were here!" she exclaimed.

"Mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" he hissed. She looked at him, startled and shocked by his harsh tone.

"You heard that?"

"Of course I did! I could have heard it if I was a mile away! Bella, why would you do that? She's your best friend and I'm your boyfriend, neither of us would ever do anything of the sort to you! Don't you trust us?" he thundered, lowering his voice when he heard Charlie's snores falter for a few seconds.

"Oh, so now it's you and Lyra? 'Us'?"

"Bella that's not the point! How many times have I told you I love you? How many times have I told you I could never love anybody else, no matter what? Look at how much we've gone through together; you finding out my secret, Port Angeles, the baseball game, James; prom! Do you honestly think I would _leave you _for your _best friend_ after all of that? The mere thought of having to be away from you, even for a minute, is painful!" His tone was upset now. He had thought she had gotten over her insecurities when it came to him and other girls; he had assured her over and over, proven, that he would never look at anybody else.

"I know its irrational Edward, believe me, but it's an insecurity all girls have. It's never made sense for you to love me, but still, ever since we've known each other, even when you started sitting with my friends and I at lunch, you've hardly talked to any of them. Now when Lyra shows up, who's more beautiful, smart and talented than any girl in that school, you start talking to her all the time? What am I supposed to think?" she cried.

"Bella," he said softly, pain in his voice. "The only reason I ever made any effort to get to know her was because she's your best friend. You were always telling me how you wished I would be more social, so when she came along, I thought it was time to start, since you two are so close. Or were."

"Then why didn't you tell me that?"

"I didn't think I needed to! There's obviously nothing between Lyra and myself besides a small friendship that's only because of you. I got to know her, I hung out with her at the mall for your sake. I thought it would make you happy…" he trailed off.

"…You were just trying to make me happy?" she whispered.

"Yes," he confirmed and took her face in his hands, making her look at him. "Bella, there's no one else but you." Bella's eyes welled up with tears, half in happiness and anger at herself.

He just held her there as she wept through the night, wishing he could calm her tears.

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Bella is jealous? Now there's a twist. I personally don't really like Bella, so I'm giving her some traits of my own :D Just a warning for all my readers: IF YOU LIKE BELLA/EDWARD OR BELLA IN GENERAL, DON'T READ THIS STORY. IF YOU HAVEN'T PICKED UP THE HINTS YET, IT'S NOT A EDWARDXBELLA, SO DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE! There, I think that's all I wanted to say XD

Anyways, the plot is being laid out, and next chapter is where it all hits the fan, so stay tuned and review!

-cally (^o^)

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	4. Eavesdropping REVISED

This is the big chapter, or one of them. The story starts moving along, shit hits the fan, pardon my language XD

**Summary**: That party with Jacob is coming up and Edward mentally prepares to face one of his past demons with the tribe.

**Rating**: T, due to language and OOCness on Ed's part.

**Word Count**: ~4.5k

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight or its characters, but I do own the plot that starts happening here.

**WARNING**: This is the chapter where the BellaxEdward world crashes and burns, so if you're a fan of the pairing or thought this story was going to be the original couple _**you're wrong**_. _**DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU'RE NOT A FAN OF JUST EDWARD**_.

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It had been several days since the fight with Bella, and things were only slightly better. First off, neither he nor Bella could look at Lyra anymore. Bella felt bad but was still suspicious and Edward felt awkward at the mere suggestion, seeing as she was fairly pretty and everybody seemed to think he had feelings of the romantic sort for her.

Secondly, this weekend was the little social gathering with the Quileute friends of Charlie's. Several of them were coming now, along with some other members of the council. He _would_ be there, for Bella and for his family's secret, but it was starting to look more and more unappealing.

The last time he had been face-to-face with the descendants of those mutts was seventy years ago, and he had had Carlisle, calm and collected, beside him. The old men of those days were gone, but their sons, like Billy Black, were well aware of the existence of vampires, and their naïve children had heard the stories. If they were shown proof, it wouldn't seem so absurd to them anymore.

So Saturday night would require extra hunting and caution, because the tiniest mistake could ruin everything, and he could not do that to his family again. He had already nearly fallen over that edge when he first met Bella.

But the more pressing problem was what he would do about Bella.

He wanted to sort things out with her, desperately so, but she was being stubborn. If it was still like this by Saturday, or tomorrow, the night might not go so well, assuming he was still invited. He couldn't do much sitting outside in the treetops, if something bad did happen.

Overall, there was not much he could do either way, except worry.

Friday morning he rode to school with his siblings in Rose's convertible. She was smirking at him in her rearview mirror.

_Told you it wouldn't last long_, she thought with a mental sneer.

"Calm down man," Jasper whispered, clenching Edward's shoulder in restraint as he glared at his sister. He sent waves of relaxation at his furious brother but it just made it worse.

"Bella and me are fine," he wanted to say but in truth he wasn't sure. Bella was more upset with herself at her outburst than anything else and she tended to shut people out when that happened. Edward included.

Emmett glanced between him and Rosalie. Then he smacked her shoulder and she turned to snarl at him, stomping on the brakes so they squeaked.

"What. The Hell." she screeched.

"What?" Emmett asked innocently. "You do that to me all the time!"

"So?"

"Just give Edward a break okay? Everybody. Bella's and his relationship is none of our business he doesn't need all your snide comments Rose."

Everyone stared in shock at Emmett. No one ever talked that way to Rosalie; they just accepted her eternal bitchyness as regret and anger because she was turned. This was why they all liked to try to stay behind the line of fire. All except Emmett apparently.

_Don't worry man I got your back. Just ignore Rosalie she's just giving you crap you don't need._ Emmett smiled at him and Jasper relaxed Rosalie so she would drive again, though she was fuming the whole way there.

When they were parked, Rosalie threw the car in reverse and sped away, leaving them behind in the slush.

"Well you're not getting any tonight," Jasper smirked and walked away with Alice who was snickering as she took her husband's hand.

"Or for a while," Edward grinned at his bear of a brother. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that." But Emmett just shook his head sadly, denying it.

"Edward...you're finally happy. Because of Bella. I doubt Rosalie could deter either of you when it comes to your relationship, but you still don't need to put up with her shit. Silent or not." He winked. "Besides, you and Jasper are both too 'gentlemanly' to do it anyways." It was Emmett's turn to grin, but then his face fell and he looked cautious. "Incoming!" he hissed and power-walked away, human speed.

Edward turned around to see Lyra marching full speed toward him, too close now for him to run away.

"Lyra," he greeted curtly. He didn't want to chance Bella seeing him talk to her, but Lyra grabbed his arm as he tried to walk away.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "All of a sudden you, Bella and Alice aren't talking to me! Did I do something? Was it when we met up at the mall?"

"Lyra..." he groaned. "It's not you okay? Bella and I are just fighting that's all."

"Really? Because I got a very angry, _jealous_ phone call from her a few nights ago."

"Well yes that's part of it but-" Edward stopped talking mid-sentence for half a second. Alice poked her head back around the corner, hoping he hadn't seen her. "Excuse me," he growled as he dismissed himself and stomped over to where Alice had been.

Following her scent to the library, he found her holding a book, pretending to read.

"Alice."

"Oh hey Edward! You'd never believe how many good books they have here!"

"Why were you eavesdropping?"

"_Eaves_dropping? When?"

"Don't play dumb Alice I saw you!" he thundered, lowering his voice when Lauren Mallory stopped reading in the aisle over to listen. So he started talking at vampire speed, his voice so low the obnoxiously nosy girl wouldn't have a chance of hearing.

"I know you were over there listening, I saw you. You had this...look on your face." He glared at her for three minutes and twenty-seven seconds before her composed look dissolved and she looked guilty.

"I'm sorry...I know I should have told you but I wanted to make sure I was right first..." she mumbled.

"Tell me what?" he snapped.

"...The last few days I've been looking into the future and nothing came up. But then I decided to try to look a year or two ahead and I saw something."

"...What? How is that possible, the future couldn't possibly be that adamant!" Alice had never seen more than a few months ahead, because there were too many variables when it came to the future.

"I know but this was. It was strange, but it was definitely staying there."

"Well what did you see?" he asked anxiously. The final bell had rang and class was started but this was too important to put on hold until later.

Alice closed her eyes and tilted her head, inviting him to look onto her mind.

What he saw was not much, but was certainly enough to confuse him.

Alaska.

"…That's it?" He asked impatiently. She held up her finger and concentrated, the hardest he had ever seen her. Then she showed him more.

It was the same place; white snow, sparse plants and layers of permafrost. But now there was a huge house. Then it switched to a smaller house, like a cottage. Images of him, Emmett, Rosalie and…Carmen? Okay...

There was a flicker of something else, a white blur with a dark spot. A vampire maybe?

"There," Alice breathed a sigh of exhaustion. "Did you see all that?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't see how that's completely worrying…" Despite what he was feeling, this creeping suspicion something was about to go wrong started to grow in his head.

"Edward! My god you're dense!" Edward looked around in offense, eyes wide. "Don't you see! That's _all_ I'm seeing! No matter who I focus on or where I focus on, our family is there! I don't know why or when exactly, I just know that we're going to be in Alaska in a few years. Something big is about to happen and it's going to happen regardless of who decides what. I don't know what it is, but it's going to be big and probably bad."

"Great. Perfect! Just what we need right now…"he grumbled.

"I'm sorry Edward…but there's something else…"she said, trying to keep up her mental block so she could say it herself, not her thoughts.

"What? Alice I've already had enough days out of school away from Bella, can we please hurry up so I don't miss anymore?" Granted they were fighting, but he still longed to be able to watch her through the minds her peers, to make sure she was safe.

But in that moment, when he said her name, Alice slipped and Edward froze in shock. Then the denial and crushing panic came.

"WHAT?" he thundered, this time earning the attention of the librarian, who started marching toward them, yelling for them to get to class.

"Edward I'm sor-" Alice started but Edward was already storming off and was out of the building within 20 seconds, where he ran full speed into the woods.

They would be going to Alaska in a few years because of some big event that was looming on the horizon. Before, Edward could hardly care, because it would all end up being all right as long as he had his love. Except now…

Bella wouldn't be coming with.

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Edward stormed through the front door, ignoring Rosalie and Esme's questioning thoughts.

"Edward are you all right darling? You seem-" but Edward cut her off by slamming his door in her face.

_Oh…_ Esme thought sadly and slowly walked away.

_Jerk, hurting Esme's feelings like that…_ Rosalie mumbled in her thoughts as she tuned her precious M3, _again_.

"Oh like you're one to talk Rosalie!" he shouted angrily. She stopped and was immediately at his door, standing there with her hands on her hips.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she said in her snotty, self-centered voice.

"It means that if _you_ were less of a _prude_, maybe _some__ of us_ would actually like being around you!" he screamed. "Now go attend to your precious car; I can hear it crying, maybe it wants to be fed," he mocked. He knew the baby allusion was a low blow, but with the mode he was in, he really couldn't care less.

Rosalie's face went slack with shock at his tone and then filled with anger.

"I suppose you think it's funny right? Using the one thing I want most and can't ever have against me? You're a man, you'd never understand, so of course you make fun of it instead!"

"No, Rosalie, I'd use that against you on purpose just so you feel bad," he sneered sarcastically. "Unlike some people, I'm not nasty to others just to make them feel bad. I had sympathy for you before, with what happened to you and all your whining that you can't have a family, but now you just use it to win an argument, because you know we'll feel bad. Not anymore!"

Edward's mouth fluttered open a bit before he clamped it shut. It was no use taking it back; he didn't mean it, even though it was partially true. Now Rosalie had an astounded look on her face, but then she lifted her chin and turned on her heel back down to the garage.

_Bastard…_ she thought, but it was in defeat. He had finally stood up to Rosalie, but he didn't feel as good as he had thought he would. She was a bitch sometimes, and everybody knew it, but whenever one of him or his brothers talked back they were scolded just because Esme thought Rosalie was still 'sensitive'. She still carried the memory of her death, but by now, the only time she used it was to make her opponent feel awkward and guilty in a fight and he was sick of it.

Not surprisingly, Esme was mad at him for how 'mean and unkind' he was to his sister of sorts, so he found no refuge at home. The only place he could think to go to was Bella's house.

He climbed in swiftly through the window, glad she kept it unlocked. Her unmade bed, ancient computer and piles of books and cd's were comforting to him. It was something familiar, but not too much so it was boring. He found what she liked interesting, it let him into her mind, to a degree.

He sat there, skimming through her books and flipping through her cd's until he heard her thunderous truck pull into the driveway. Sighing, he put down her things where they had been and opened the window, wishing he didn't have to leave.

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His hand was on the doorknob. His siblings knew he was there, yet they didn't say anything; their thoughts were silent as well, trying to focus solely on what they were doing instead of his hesitance outside the door. Esme or Rosalie must have told them what he had said before he left.

Taking a deep breath he didn't need, he stepped into the house and quietly shut the door. Nobody looked up as he slunk to his room. A few minutes after him just sitting on his couch, staring blankly at the wall, there was a series of light knocks.

He already knew who it was, so he minus well get it over with.

"Come in." Rosalie's silver-blonde head poked through the opening and she slipped through the crack, shutting the door. Like that would do any good.

"Edward," she addressed him flippantly.

"Rosalie." They stood and sat in silence for about a minute before Rosalie finally spoke, the words coming out making him stop breathing.

"I'm sorry Edward." His head shot up and he gawked at her incredulously. She held up her hand so she could finish. "I know you get frustrated with me and I know that I say…unnecessary things that hurt you. You were right. I apologize and, what with my temper, I can't promise that it won't happen again, but I'll try my best," she finished, looking oddly remorseful. The whole thing was really formal, which wasn't like Rosalie at all.

"Did Esme put you up to this?" There was no point if she wasn't sincere.

"No. She did talk to me, but I guess, after Alice told me what she told you at school, that right now isn't the best time for me to be callous."

"…Alice told you?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, yeah. I mean the vision involved all of us." Edward could tell she was trying not to be her usual, cruel self, but it was slipping through surprisingly fast.

"…I see." This was embarrassing. "I don't know what to say."

"How about you go see Bella? I know you've been missing her all day." Alice suggested, bouncing into the room like a hyperactive rabbit, per usual. He knew she was just trying to distract him so he wouldn't feel awkward, but it was exactly what he needed to hear right now.

Without a word, he flew out of the house and over the wet forest grass, back to Bella.

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Bella opened the door with curious eyes that went wide when she saw Edward was on her porch. He smiled sweetly, his fingers fidgeting with the lint in his jacket pockets.

"Bella," he greeted.

"Edward! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you and I thought it would be better if I did it in person instead of over the phone." He looked around her into the kitchen. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, I'm just surprised to see you. Come in." It seemed formality was everywhere tonight.

She led him up to her room where they could talk without Charlie overhearing. After shutting the door, she turned to look at him expectantly.

"I wanted to apologize for how I've been acting. Lately, things between us haven't been where they should be and I want to try to fix it."

"Edward stop." She held up her hand. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I got way too jealous over nothing and blew everything out of proportion. It's not your fault, you haven't done anything wrong. I was just so protective of you and so insecure of your love for me that I was overrun by the girl-logic part of my brain that said…that between you and Lyra…"

"I get it," he interrupted. "Or at least I can see where you are coming from; I've heard nearly every girl at every school I've ever gone to think like that. Thought I don't understand, I can see why you did what you did and I just want to get past it. You're my life now, and I don't want to spend any portion of it fighting with you."

Bella walked over and hugged him tightly, as if she was trying to make up for the past few distant days. He hugged her back with equal vigor and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Does this mean I'm still invited over tomorrow night?"

"Yes," she said with a laugh in her voice. "I'd like it if you were there. Billy seems to think that you're bad for me and if you're there maybe he'll back off a bit."

"You sound nervous about it," he teased.

"Well yeah, I kind of am. I don't know how it's going to go; if you being there will make Billy chill out and back off or if it will provoke him even more. I don't want him to tell Charlie, he wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I suppose you're right," he agreed. "But we'll make it through this like we always do. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure everything will turn out for the best." He assured her, and she melted into his arms.

Now he just had to convince himself that this was true.

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"Is it ready?" Bella asked.

"Yes. Everything is all chopped and ready to go," Edward winked at her, glided his hand across her back and she scooted past him.

It was 6 o'clock, around the time Charlie's Indian friends were coming over. Edward had helped Bella prepare everything, so it wouldn't be so much of a hassle. And to make sure it was him chopping things up, not her, so she wouldn't end up chopping more than the food.

Bella had decided to do a simple dinner; salad and marinated chicken, Mexican style. Apparently she hadn't seen this Jacob guy for a while, not since when she first got to Forks, though Billy had stopped by several times to 'check up on her'.

Headlights flashed through the window as a car pulled up. Both of them stiffened in nervousness, before they dissolved into a short hysteric bout of laughter. Bella bounded over to the door to answer it the moment the doorbell rang.

"Good evening Bella," a deep, old voice said.

"Hey, I'm glad you guys could come," Bella greeted them.

"Thank you for inviting us, I haven't seen you since you were ten years old! You've grown so much!" a soft female voice said. Edward chuckled under his breath at the nostalgic chatter.

"Come on in, make yourself at home," Charlie added, coming up behind his daughter. He shook hands with the woman, who was tall and thin with long black hair and perfect copper skin, and grinned at the man who had spoken. He was in a wheelchair; Edward remembered Bella telling him about how Jacob's dad was handicapped in some way, so that must be him.

This was it.

Edward got out dishes and silverware, trying to seem as human as possible, as friendly as he could. _Non_-threatening. The humans must have heard the clatter and walked into the kitchen heading for the living room. Then they all stopped dead when they saw him.

Billy was clearly in a rage; his thoughts were a jumble of anger, protectiveness and surprise. Anger and surprise because I was here, protectiveness over his friends.

The woman was frozen for a different reason. She most likely had heard the tales, but she still was stuck by his beauty. She was having trouble grasping the concept that he was dangerous and could kill her if he wanted to, like the legends had probably said, and was captivated by him, by the snares his kind possessed to catch their natural prey.

He turned to fully face them and smiled a polite and tiny smile. The woman flushed and stuttered, opting for a smile in return. Billy just stared at him; at least he wasn't glaring like he had been before.

"Sue, Billy, this is my boyfriend Edward," Bella waved her hand toward me in introduction. "Edward, this is Sue Clearwater and Billy Black."

"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you," he replied in his soft, non-scary voice he reserved for humans. He didn't shake their hands; for all he knew the sag-bag in the wheelchair might see it as a provocation.

The impression he was trying to make shattered when three more men walked in. Or should he say, an old guy and two really buff teenagers.

The old man went over to the woman, Sue, and wrapped his arm protectively around her, though he didn't look at Edward with hostility like Billy Black did, just caution. One of the boys looked to be around twenty. He was extremely fit and tall, just like the boy next to him, who was slightly shorter.

"Dad…" Bella said, questioning fear in her voice. He was going to step over and put his arm around her, that protection instinct of his surfacing.

"This is Sam Uley Bella, he lives down on the reservation by Billy."

"Oh…It's nice to meet you…" Bella said, extending her hand. He just looked at her hand, then at her and did nothing. Edward's eyes tightened at his rudeness.

"So where's Jacob? He was supposed to come right?" Bella asked.

"Uh…that's him right there Bella," Charlie said, pointing to the other muscular boy in the small kitchen, who sheepishly raised his hand, but avoided eye contact. Bella's eyes popped out wide and she gawked; clearly he was not the same as when she last saw him.

"Jacob?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey Bells," he replied, his voice deeper than usual for a…what? Fifteen or sixteen year old?

"Wow…you've…um…changed." Jacob just looked down at the floor. Why wasn't he looking at anybody?

Then Edward caught their scent, and he went into overdrive. Their stench.

They were werewolves. Shape-shifters.

How in the hell had the line continued? It had been broken! But yet, here stood two wolves in his girlfriend's kitchen. Their stink filled his nose and he repressed the urge to scrunch up his face, though his expression must have changed because Billy smirked at him.

"Shall we?" Charlie said, purposefully oblivious to the awkwardness between Edward and the Quileutes in his house.

"Yeah," Billy agreed. "Jacob, come on in," he encouraged his son. Jacob looked at his father, then his eyes met Edwards and he glared, his eyes filled with hated.

But his expression totally changed when he looked at Bella, into her eyes. Then everything stopped.

Bella was oblivious to the change of atmosphere, but Edward certainly wasn't. The air became thick, heavy and suddenly Jacob's thought process changed completely. It was focused all around Bella; her eyes, her hair, her scent, the way she moved, when she breathed. In the second that passed during this, Jacob repressed the urge to fall to his knees.

Edward had read about this somewhere before, but couldn't believe it was happening. Happening to Bella, to him.

Bella looked back at Jacob to see if he was following and stopped when she saw her boyfriend's horrified expression and Jacob's awestruck face.

That was when his world shattered.

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…I know…yeah I did go there…if you thought this chapter was dramatic, just wait 'til the next! What can I say, I really don't like Bella.

REVIEW!

-cally (^o^)


	5. Giving Up

Oh gosh, now I gotta explain last chapter…

**Summary: **Bella and Edward try to deal with Jacob's imprint while Edward wages mental war on our little wolf boy.

**Rating: **T for major angst and some swearing/sex refs.

**Word Count: **Almost 4.5k. Man, these chapters just keep getting longer and longer…

**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN TWILIGHT**

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**Recap**

_"Yeah," Billy agreed. "Jacob, come on in," he encouraged his son. Jacob looked at his father, then his eyes met Edward's and he glared, his gaze filled with hated._

_But his expression totally changed when he looked at Bella, into her eyes._

_Everything stopped._

_Bella was oblivious to the change of atmosphere, but Edward certainly wasn't. The air became thick, heavy and suddenly Jacob's thought process changed completely. It was focused all around Bella; her eyes, her hair, her scent, the way she moved. In the second that passed during this, Jacob repressed the urge to fall to his knees._

_Edward had read about this somewhere before, but couldn't believe it was happening. Happening to Bella, to him._

_Bella looked back at Jacob to see if he was following and stopped when she saw her boyfriend's horrified expression, Jacob's awestruck one and Sam's surprised face._

_That was when his world shattered._

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Edward's heart broke, right in that second. His heart fissured and cracked apart, like a wedge was being driven right through the center, like someone was beating it savagely with a sharpened hammer.

It was all over. He knew what this would do, what would happen. It was inevitable now.

Jacob had imprinted, and now Bella practically had no choice but to leave Edward.

For a mutt.

Edward was now visibly fuming and Billy was turning around to get in front of Bella. But it wasn't Bella he should be afraid for; no it was his son. His mongrel son that ruined everything in his world, made him lose the part of him he had finally found, that he had been searching for, for over a hundred years.

Everybody but Edward, Sam, Jacob and Billy seemed to be aware of what was happening.

"Guys?" Charlie asked as all three of them stood there, motionless. "Jake, what the hell is wrong with you?" he started tugging on the boys arm, waving his hand in front of the boy's face when he didn't respond. The dog was staring at Bella, a pained but loving look on his face, without moving an inch as he was tugged on. Bella blushed at his staring.

But when she turned to Edward again, she knew something was wrong, that he wasn't just being a protective boyfriend. She must have seen his heartbroken expression, his world that was collapsing…

So without a word, he stiffly walked out, fighting the urge to crumble the door to dust in his hand. He was out of sight before anybody even moved to go after him.

Running was always something Edward was very good at. When he was human, he would go for long runs, not stopping for several minutes. He had been the best in his gym class, and it was no different in his vampire life too. He had always been the fastest.

But now, it could never to be fast enough, never far enough. When he first met Bella he had fought to stay by her after he finally decided to stay _with_ her; if he hadn't it would always be running away from her, not toward something else. Now he was doing that anyway, against his will, against any other options; because there was none.

Bella would be forever gone from him after tonight, and he could never get her back.

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It was three days before Edward returned home after venting his anger on a 'couple' of trees in the mountains. It was only then that he was able to control himself to be around anything.

He ignored his family's worried glances and questions and only went home to change. He was off to Bella's house moments later, despite the fact that it was 10 o'clock on a Tuesday. On the way out, he saw Alice's horrorstruck face; she must have seen what he was about to do and why. Let her tell them; he wasn't even sure he could without breaking down sobbing.

When he got to Bella's house, he could hear Charlie's worried thoughts. They were cloudy, but he could tell Charlie knew Bella was anxious over something, and had been since Saturday. He knew it had something to do with Edward, which he was not very pleased about.

Bella said good night to her father and trudged up the stairs, out of sight of Charlie's vision, cutting of Edward's view of her. So he sped over to her bedroom window and slipped through the open space, moments before she entered herself. When she saw him, she threw herself across the room and into his arms where they hugged each other tightly.

"Edward! I was so worried! You've been gone since Sunday; I thought you'd left or something! Why did you leave?" she looked at him with big, tear-filled eyes and he realized he'd broken his promise. The promise he'd made to her from the side of her hospital bed, after James had nearly killed her. Little did she know, she would be the one to break that promise, to him.

"I'm sorry. I was…overwhelmed."

"With what? After you left, so did Jake and Sam. Charlie asked Billy what was going on, but Billy left just as quickly as you did. Harry and Sue stayed for a while, but I had a feeling Harry knew what was happening; things got a little uncomfortable, so they left after half an hour. My dad was so sad that nobody stayed…"

"It's…very complicated."

"What is? Tell me! They owe Charlie an explanation; he hardly ever gets to see them; then they leave after being here for two minutes? Unbelievable." she exclaimed angrily.

"Bella…" he wavered. Like it was easy to say this as his heart was breaking! "It's very difficult to explain and it's probably not best for now-"

"Edward please! I've handled finding out vampires are real and being hunted by an immortal tracker, I think I can handle this!"

Edward pondered this in the four seconds he had before she got frustrated.

On one hand, he didn't want her to know, not ever. He was so selfish he wanted her to choose _him_, not that mongrel down the road. They had fought so hard to be together, and now because some kid's DNA told him he liked someone, they were to split up and let him have his way? Yeah right. Edward's battle and been just as great as Bella's; she had to endure the danger and peril his world brought, like his fierce thirst for her blood and James. He had to endure her silent thoughts and delicious, tormenting scent.

But then, the less-selfish, more ethical part of his mind (even if it was a very small part right now) told him that this was what was best. Yes, the boy could be dangerous to her if he lost control (since he was probably new to it, the risk would be even greater), but she wouldn't have to change for him…and as much as Edward hated to admit it, he could make Bella happy. He wanted her to have a good life, a human life, have all the things she would have to give up to date a vampire. To _be_ a vampire.

These two choices warred inside his head as he tried to accept which one was best. But the question was, which was better for _her_? Not for him.

Bella cocked her eyebrow at him impatiently and was about to speak before he held up a finger to her mouth to stop her impending rant.

"Bella…you said before, when you found out what I am, that you had help with it. Remember?" he tried to lead her to it, instead of having to say it. She nodded her head. "Well…I'm sure if he told you what I am he told you the other part of the story right? About his tribe and their beliefs?"

This seemed to confuse Bella, as she tried to remember the story through all the things that had happened since then.

"You mean about the treaty?"

"No, before that." Getting warmer.

"…About the legend of their tribe?" Very hot. His silence told her to go on.

"…About the wolves?" she asked, an amused and incredulous look on her face. When Edward solemnly nodded and pressed his lips together her smile faded. "What are you trying to say?"

"Bella…those legends were true. There weren't any around the time of the treaty we made, but there were for generations before that. To protect the tribe from our kind. I guess they've come back now."

Bella let go of him and backed up.

"Wait a minute." She said sternly, holding up her hands. "Are you telling me that along with my boyfriend being a vampire, my childhood friend is a werewolf?" Edward just nodded grimly. She could tell he wasn't joking and went to sit down on her bed, a disbelieving expression on her face. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Sam, the guy that was with Jacob, is the 'leader' I suppose you could say. There are three others from what I could gather from their thoughts before I left."

"Okay…so werewolves and vampires exist," she shrugged. "Anything else I should know about? Witches? Magic? Unicorns? Talking lions?" There was a hint of humor in her voice on the last one and she gave him dubious look when he got confused. "You know, from Narnia?"

"Bella this isn't a joke!" he thundered. She shrank back at the intensity of his voice. "The minute Jacob saw you, everything was ruined! Now everything is going to change because of that mutt!" he yelled. Thankfully the TV volume was up so loud Charlie didn't hear him.

"What do you mean 'everything was ruined'? What happened, for the third time?" She added impatiently. Here came the hard part.

"There's a process, with the wolves, that happens every once and a while. It happened with Sam, because he understood the moment it occurred."

"Well, what process?"

"…It's called imprinting."

"…Imprinting?"

"Yes. It's a process that…binds a werewolf to someone else. So much so that that person is all they care about, all they think about. Sam has that, from what I could hear," he winced, recalling the astounded thoughts that ran through Sam's mind as he processed what was happening between Jacob and Bella.

"What's this got to do with me?"

"…Jacob imprinted Saturday night." Bella stared at him blankly.

"What, on me?" she asked, like it was some form of joke. He truly wished it was.

"Yes."

"Well, that's just too bad, because I'm already taken! And he thought I would just up and leave you because he 'imprinted' on me? I hardly know him! The last time we talked was over half a year ago and before that it was several years!" She exclaimed after a moment of silence for her to absorb it all.

"He seems to think so." Edward replied; he hoped Bella would keep to that belief, that she wouldn't leave. He had never really seen an imprint couple around each other, he didn't know exactly how strong it was. His love for Bella was probably stronger, so perhaps not all hope was lost.

"I can't believe this! The next time he comes over here I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" She went on to rant about how incredibly arrogant she thought Jacob was. Normally Edward would be amused and relieved, but not all faith had been restored.

Jacob Black would not simply shrink away to nurse his wounds when she rejected him. He would try to win her.

Well, he was in for the battle of his life.

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The next few days were like a honeymoon for Edward and Bella. Of course there were no sexual activities, but they were always somehow touching each other, or talking or staring into each other's eyes. Bella had seemed to take Jacob's imprint as the greatest insult and was determined to reject him hard. This was perfectly fine with Edward.

People were noticing too. Edward felt a little guilty, because Bella was ignoring her friends to be with him. One night, he even had to leave so she could do her homework.

He had gotten several complaints, mostly from Alice and Lyra who decided to team up on him, and many deadly glares from Mike and Eric at their 'disgusting lovey-dovey' behavior, to quote Jessica.

The only one who wasn't somehow offended was Angela; she understood how close Bella and Edward were and gave them some space. Apparently Ben had taken their public affections as an encouragement to be more outgoing with Angela, so that was most likely part of her tolerability.

School was both a torture and a pleasure. It was torturous because it was school, with all the homework and boring teachers giving off lectures about things he already knew. But then, he got to spend time with Bella and also got to show those lecherous male 'friends' of hers that she was _his_, not theirs or Jacob Black's.

Throughout the week, they had gone to their meadow twice, where Bella read to him and he played with her hair. A few times they had started getting rather mischievous in their kissing and Edward had let it go on until she was practically straddling him beneath their tree in the grassy field, her human hormones coming into play.

Of course, he had to stop when her hands started gliding down his chest; even though they were in a little love state and her touch was simply exquisite, he wasn't about to make love to her just because of the dog, which is what it would be if they did it now.

"Bella," he would say and would look at her disapprovingly, like usual. She would just grin and kiss him sweetly in apology and they would get up and leave for dinner.

But after their last little outing to the meadow, after he had left to come back later when Charlie was sleeping, he was alarmed to learn that Jacob had called several times. Bella just told him she wasn't interested and hung up, but it was obvious the child wasn't giving up. Edward's confidence started waning, even though Bella insisted nothing would happen. He trusted her, but definitely not this boy.

So when he was pestered enough to leave so she could do homework and get ready for bed, Edward returned home to find Alice waiting for him on the front steps.

"Hello Alice," he greeted as he was about to go in.

"Edward, I want to talk to you," she said sternly.

"What is it?" he asked when she blocked her thoughts.

"...You know that vision I had? When it all went blank?" This got his attention.

"Yes?"

"Well, now I can hardly see anything and I'm pretty sure it's because of the dog," she wrinkled her nose at the mention of the hound.

"That's an interesting theory. What makes you think that?"

"Well, I keep getting glances of little things, like what will happen in school, but whenever the mutt calls or decides to do something, my vision goes dark. I don't think I can see around him; he's probably the barrier from my earlier vision."

This was certainly an intriguing idea, but for Edward, all it meant was that Black would be hanging around for quite a while.

"Don't worry Edward, I'm sure it will be fine," Alice soothed when she saw the despaired look on his face.

"Yeah," he replied. "Sure."

"Also…"

"Ugh, what is it Alice? Spit it out!"

"It's nothing big…I just don't want you to be mad at me, since it was kind of an experiment." She looked at him sheepishly, then looked down and bit her lip. Uh oh.

"What?" he asked; she was blocking her thoughts again, something she had grown good at.

"You know that shopping trip I dragged you and Bella on a few weeks ago?"

Well. This certainly wasn't what he was expecting.

"Uh…yeah. What's that got to do with your vision?"

"Well, I didn't tell you everything and I have to get this off my chest. See, I knew Lyra was going to be at the mall, that's why I decided I wanted to go _that_ weekend."

"…Why?"

"In my vision, I saw flickers of Bella and Lyra. I didn't know what they meant, so I wanted to find out more about her, get to know her. Since I had no idea what the images of her and Alaska meant, or how they were related, I wanted to see how you would act around her. She's already friends with Rose and Bella, and she likes me and Emmett, so I thought she might have something to do with Alaska."

"Are…are you serious?" This made absolutely no sense at all. What was more unnerving than not knowing what it meant was that _Alice_ didn't know what it meant, which was scary; she was supposed to be the eyes of the family while he was the ears.

"Yes…I'm sorry, I just didn't know how I would explain it if it didn't work, if I concluded that she had nothing to do with what I saw, so I waited." She sat there looking at him, waiting for a reaction.

He just stood there with his mouth slightly open, his eyes narrowed, with a disbelieving and confused look on his face.

"Edward?"

"Okay…so Lyra has something to do with Alaska, Bella _might_ have something to do with it too, but you don't know what that is because you don't know exactly who's involved. Right?"

"Right," She agreed. He nodded deftly in response.

"I don't think I know how to handle that…"

"Well, how about, while you're absorbing all of it, you go spend some time with Jazz and Em. They're both getting a little fed up with your obsessive Bella behavior." She snickered when they heard Emmett yell 'Yeah!' from inside.

Edward grinned at her and ruffled her hair, making she stick out her tongue at him.

"Thanks for telling me all this Alice. It's good to know you'll be honest with me, even if it is a little late or not the best news," he chided. She laughed and pointed to inside, where her husband was waiting, listening to their conversation.

Now, time to face the wrath of his 'fed up' brothers.

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It had been a week since the disastrous gathering with the Quileutes at Bella's house. Things had generally been going well; Jacob hadn't once shown up even though Alice's vision kept clouding. Edward and Bella were walking on water with how much time they were spending together.

Friday night though, Bella called him, all excited. She was going over to Lyra's house for some girly sleepover. Apparently they had made up but he had been too distracted to notice.

So that night he spent at home, playing video games and having wrestling matches with his brothers for the first time in weeks.

"It's good to have you back man!" Emmett cheered when Edward gave in and played _Left For Dead __2_ with them.

"Yeah, I thought we'd lost you." Jasper grunted as he killed some zombies; personally this wasn't Edward's type of game, but his brothers enjoyed it and he wanted to spend some guy time with them.

"So~" Emmett asked, dragging out the word. "How's it goin' with Bella?" he winked and nudged his brothers shoulder. Only Alice had been completely filled in on what was happening with the wolf boy; he brothers were clueless.

"Good," he said and Emmett grinned wolfishly. "Though not how _you_ mean it," he added for Emmett's benefit. Jasper laughed jovially at Edward's discomfort. God, did everything have to be about sex with these two?

"Oh come on man! How long are you gonna wait? You both want it."

"Because it's more complicated than that _and_ it's none of your business."

"Oh really? How? We're your brothers you can tell us anything! In fact you should be bragging to us. And 'it's complicated'? Why? She worried about getting pregnant or something?" Edward gave his brother a disdainful look and smacked him hard, with a resounding thwack. "Hey!"

"You've never been with a human Emmett! Did it ever occur to you that I quite possibly could kill her? If I lost control for one second and wasn't careful?" he vented. Emmett had never understood Edward's attraction to his human girlfriend, and couldn't fathom _not_ having a sexual aspect to their relationship.

"Chill out bro, whatever, it's your guy's decision. Just know that she wants it _bad_; every human teenager does," he advised with a smirk. Edward looked to Jasper helplessly, who just laughed silently and shook his head, returning to the video game.

That night was actually fun. He missed spending quality time with his brothers; even Rosalie's nagging asking how they could play that game was nice to hear again. For a while.

Eventually his brothers were dragged off by their respective wives and Edward had to leave the premise. Alice was getting frisky in her and Jasper's bedroom, causing her husband to radiate lust to all the other couples in the house, sending them into a sex frenzy. This was generally normal; all mated vampires liked to indulge in each other, some (cough Rosalie and Emmett cough) more than others.

Edward just laughed good-naturedly and ran off, more free spirited than he had been in a while.

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The Monday after, something was different. Edward hadn't seen Bella all weekend because she was with Lyra, so he had spent the time with his brothers; going hunting, wrestling, holding various competitions. The whole family had played baseball in the middle of the night on Sunday because there was a storm over town.

But when he picked Bella up in the morning, she was quiet, and didn't look at him, even when they spoke.

"Did something happen with Lyra?" he asked after he got no response to a question.

"What?" she replied distractedly. "Oh…no, nothing happened."

"Then why are you so quiet?"

"Well…I'm afraid you'll be angry with me," she confessed as she bit her lip anxiously. Now he was worried.

"I could never be angry with you," he assured. Others, definitely.

"…Jacob called last night…and we talked. Well, we didn't so much talk, as he did say he was sorry over and over again."

"What was he apologizing for?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"He said he was sorry he ruined the night for me and Charlie. He even said he was sorry for making you mad, which is weird since you two are enemies and stuff."

"Did he now?" So he was playing dirty by playing the guilt-card. Two could play at that game, if called for. "What else did he say?"

"Nothing really. He just kept on rambling about the treaty, he's sorry and blah, blah, blah. I kind of felt bad for him; I mean, I'm still mad at him for thinking I would just fall into his arms, but he sounded so heartbroken over the phone. I don't think he can help it," she muttered. She obviously was feeling guilty over his feelings and hers; she was afraid Edward would be mad at her for this, when in truth he was fuming because of the boy's 'apology'.

"Oh…"

"I know, I know, it's stupid to feel that way. I know he's just trying to get me to go with him, but he sounded like a puppy, as ironic as that is."

"I'm sure," Edward grumbled as he got out of his car and slammed the door.

This admittance of Bella's haunted him all day; it was probably one of the few days the teachers would have found him answerless, if he had been called on.

This was the step he had feared. The wolf was not above playing dirty and he obviously was good at it. Bella was so selfless and affectionate that she was starting to cave just hours after he smacked her with a good helping of guilt. It was only a matter of time until she invited the mongrel over again and everything was done for.

At lunch, Bella's friends conversed around him, and nobody but his family seemed to notice his morbid distraction.

_He seemed so happy and carefree over the weekend…what the hell happened…_Emmett thought as Edward stared blankly at his tray.

_Is it the dog?_ Alice growled in her head, ready to jump to his defense. Edward looked at the ceiling then back down to his tray, nodding. Alice's face fell and her thoughts became vicious snarls as she contemplated what this could mean. _Bella's an idiot if she chooses him over you. _

Edward smiled gravely, even though her words incited _more_ fear in him.

That night, Edward stayed home instead of going to Bella's after school so he could get a new essay out of the way. He only got about halfway through when he gave up and threw done his pencil, running his hands through his hair distractedly.

He had to see her. To make sure she was all right, to make sure she wasn't with the dog…

He grabbed his keys and barreled toward her house at 120 miles per hour anxiously. He marched toward the door and knocked, expecting Charlie to answer. But instead, he was greeted by someone else.

Edward stared, helplessly shocked, into the dark eyes of Jacob Black. The boy looked surprised too, until he managed to compose himself and tried to look intimidating.

"Jake, who is it?" Bella asked, coming around the living room corner so she could see. Her face blanched when she saw him, then looked desperate as she stepped forward with her hand outstretched to explain.

"Edward-" she started.

"Don't!" he snarled. He had seen the look in her eyes; the guilty, apologetic look Edward had seen on the face of a young Quileute girl in Sam's memories. The look of guilty, unexplainable defeat.

Jacob turned to him and leered smugly. Edward snarled out loud now and was glad Charlie wasn't there to hear it. Jacob looked scared for a moment before he shifted his stance into a defensive one, ready to fight. He stepped back to shield Bella.

The terrified expression on her face stopped Edward from pouncing and ripping that damned smile of the mutt's face. If he could have cried, he would have as Bella gripped the dog's arm. She was frightened of _him_.

In the smallest, fraction of a second, Edward was running away from the house, through the trees surrounding the property, sobs breaking through his lips.

Alice's vision made partial sense now; Bella had made her decision.

And it didn't include him.

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Poor wittle Eddy…I hate making him feel so sad…

Like I said last chapter, this was all angsty and dramatic, but is nothing compared to what I plan in the next chapter. So see you then my loyal Twihards! :D

-cally (^o^)


	6. A World Shattered REVISED

**Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm sorry I had to repost this chapter. Most of these early chapters I wrote at night when I couldn't sleep, so I made a few mistakes and in this chapter as well as chapter 4, I made some big ones name/event-wise, so I had to repost. The chapter is much the same but there were some errors that I couldn't ignore as I reread it. This will be the last time, I promise! :D**

**Summary: **Edward wallows in depression after Bella rips his heart out. He makes a decision, but regrets it as his family tries to console him.

**Rating: **T for angst, OOCness and some language.

**Word Count: **~4k. I'll try to make all the chapters the same length now, since the first few were in the 3k range then the previous two were about 4k. No promises, but I'll try.

**DISCLAIMER**: Only using Twilight for entertainment purposes, no ownership here.

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Rose was the one to go get his car from Bella's house. She wanted the chance to see Bella's guilty face, to chew her out for how stupid she was to try to have relationship with a vampire. Esme had ordered her not to say a word to the girl, to not even be seen; just to go get the car and come home.

Edward stayed curled up in his room, trying to be quiet as he mourned. An occasional sob broke through and every time, everybody in the house would stop what they were doing and listen solemnly. Carlisle had tried to come into his room and console him, but Edward screamed at him to get out.

That feeling he had gotten when he realized Jacob imprinted was nothing compared to this. Then, there had been some hope left. Now, there was none, only a barren stretch of empty time before him.

He had once thought of trying to leave Bella and the feeling had been horrific. Thinking about how he still loved her, she still loved him and being away…it had crushed him; that was why he hadn't, he just couldn't manage it.

Now, he still loved her…but soon, she wouldn't love him back. She would love a smelly, shaggy dog that ran around without a shirt on. It was his worst nightmare come to life; her leaving him for someone else.

Bella had called several times; each time she was apologizing, saying she didn't know what was happening, that it wasn't her fault. She was right; it wasn't her fault, it was his and Jacob's. He should never have let that mutt come near her. He was the one who imprinted, he was the one who destroyed all that they had worked for. Edward and his family had saved her life, only to introduce her to the mythical world they lived in. In essence, they had prepared her for learning of Jacob's existence; she would be surprised, but not repulsed, which was exactly how it happened.

Apart from feeling deserted and miserable, Edward felt used.

Over the week after Jacob had been at Bella's house, Edward hadn't gone out. Esme had called him in 'sick' the entire week; the school had said he would have to drop out if this kept up, since it didn't look like he would go back anytime soon. That sounded like heaven to him; he couldn't even think of Bella, let alone look at her.

It was six days later when Bella came to the house.

"I have to talk to him Carlisle," she begged when he opened the door. Alice had filled his family in and none of them were very empathetic to her.

"Bella I can't. I understand you want to, but you don't know what this means to him." She was about to counter him, so Carlisle continued.

"He has spent the past century alone Bella; then he found you and felt whole again. But now you're leaving him without a second thought. He's not letting anybody into his room and he hasn't hunted in two weeks. I think it's best if you leave and don't come back." Carlisle explained. His voice was soft, but even he was angry with Bella.

"He won't even see me? He won't even let me explain?" Bella thundered angrily.

"There's nothing to explain Bella! Edward could hear the thoughts of this Jacob; he knows how strong an imprint is, he saw the memories of the leader's imprint. The man had been in love and engaged, yet the moment he saw his imprint he left the other girl, completely giving himself up to it. She couldn't resist, and you won't be able to either, given time. If he forgives you now, if he sees you, it will just mean more pain for him when you leave him, and I can't let that happen."

"Why is everybody so convinced that will happen? So I had Jake over once, big deal. He's my friend and he's having a rough time with this whole werewolf thing and needs someone to be there."

"My God, are you really that blind?" Rosalie breathed, showing up behind Carlisle, who tried to stop her from talking. Edward frowned at her judgmental tone. "That's how it always starts with you humans. You start spending time with someone because they say they're '_going through rough time_' and that they '_need someone to talk to_'. Then before you know it, you're falling for them and breaking someone's heart to get what you want, regardless of the consequences." Everybody in the house was silent, including Bella. Rosalie was sticking up for him?...

"I told my brother that it wasn't a good idea to pursue this infatuation he had with you, because I knew you would eventually ask to be turned and he would have this whole emotional war with himself. But I was wrong; I never thought it would be _you_ who hurt _him_ with something like this and I swear to God, if you don't leave him alone, you'll have to deal with me. Got that?" she hissed. Bella's heart rate was through the roof.

"Rosalie…" Edward whispered. Her head cocked slightly to the side in acknowledgement, but nothing more. "Back off," he growled. He was hurt and he was glad someone was sticking up for him, but it wasn't Bella's fault and she didn't deserve to be treated like it was.

Rosalie turned to glare at Bella, and Edward saw the infuriated and shocked look on her face. His heart disintegrated when he realized she wasn't sad that this was happening to them; her eyes weren't even watering like they usually did when she was mad. She was getting defensive of herself and Jacob; all mourning for their broken relationship was gone.

That was the moment Edward wished he could kill himself.

"Fine," Bella hissed and stomped back to her ancient Chevy, driving down the road without a second glance back.

Everyone was quiet, listening to him. He didn't make a sound; he was physically unable to form a coherent thought or action to convey the pain he was going through right now.

It felt like his chest was empty, hollow; like he was truly dead, with no feelings, totally desensitized. That vacant feeling, the void that was now his mind and heart, was what made him decide.

"NO!" Alice shrieked. In half a second flat, she was through his door, shaking him by the shoulders. "Edward you can't!" she sobbed.

"Alice, please, I want to," he whispered. It was a little melodramatic, this whole scene, but he didn't see any other way. He didn't want to live in a world without Bella; there was no point to his being now if she didn't love him. Never again would he be able to hold her, kiss her or breathe in her mouthwatering scent, and that was pure hell.

"Edward don't be stupid!" she screamed at him. By now the whole family was outside his door with fearful expressions; save Jasper who had a solemn look on his face as he tasted Edward's emotions.

"Alice," Jasper said firmly. She looked back, her eyes puffy and red like she would be crying if she were able.

"But Jasper! You couldn't see what he wants to do, you can't-"

"Alice!" he repeated, softly, but adamant. "You can't feel his feelings." Jasper looked into his brothers eyes and saw the immense pain there. "Bella was his world and now she's gone. How would you feel if I were gone?" This made Alice stop shaking him as she thought about it.

"But…"

"Would someone please tell us what the hell is going on?" Emmett growled, per usual when the 'gifted' ones in the family had these silent discussions.

"The Volturi," Alice sobbed. Everybody froze and even Rose was at a loss of words. Despite her hatred of Bella, she certainly didn't want this to happen.

"No," Esme whispered, her hand coming to her mouth. "No, Edward please! Tell me you're lying!" Edward held his sister as she sobbed in his chest and looked over her shoulder at his family.

_Look at him…there's nothing left…_was what Carlisle saw when their eyes met. Did he really look like he was feeling? Was it that obvious?

_Edward please, I know you're hurting but this can't be the solution! _Emmett yelled at him in his head; his face was infuriated. _I know you loved Bella, but you have eternity to forget her; I hate to say it but this obviously wasn't meant to be! You might even find someone else…_

"Let me ask you all one question." Edward countered heatedly. Emmett's last thought infuriated him. '_Find someone else'_? Unlikely. "Carlisle; if Esme died what would you do? Would you be able to just forget her after a while and fall in love with another?" His father's face fell.

"Rosalie; if you lost Emmett, would you have any light left in this dark world you think you live in?" At his questions, everybody was silent, thinking of the pain they would feel if what he said ever came true.

"None of you would ever be the same again; that person would be gone forever and you could never find someone who was even remotely the same. But they wouldn't have had a choice to leave; you couldn't have stopped it. I could have.

"I could have told Bella I didn't want her around the dog, but I didn't and now she is gone of her own free will. And it wasn't just me she loved; Alice was her sister, Esme was the mother she missed and Carlisle was the man who helped her when she was hurt. Yet this thing she has with that mongrel made her forget all of that. Now tell me, how would you deal with it; if your partner left you voluntarily, without any warning or remorse?"

His questions hit home; none of them could answer, aloud or in their thoughts. Now that they all could partially understand how he felt, they couldn't argue his decision, even though they wanted to. They were his family, the only one he had ever been this connected to; he could hardly remember his human family but from what he did recall, they hadn't been very close. Not even to his father, his own namesake.

So he understood why they didn't want him to go; yes he would miss them and it was the only thing that kept him here now, but he didn't want to spend the rest of his immortal life looking at three perfectly matched couples. All he would remember was Bella.

"Thank you for understanding," he whispered and stood up, grabbing his car keys from the table next to his sofa. Astounded looks covered all of their faces.

"What, you're going now?" Rosalie asked incredulously.

"I don't see the point in waiting; it will only get worse and I don't think it would be wise for me to stay when that happens."

"What if she changes her mind?" Esme was grasping at straws, trying to make him stay. Edward looked at Alice expectantly and she just shook her head. Esme's face fell. "You can't…" she cried and turned to weep into Carlisle's chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

_We'll miss you son…terribly. I wish you'd rethink this, reconsider, but I can see you've decided._

Edward nodded his thanks and walked at a human pace down the stairs, ignoring the pained mental shouts following him. But when he opened the door he was met with a pair of deep black eyes.

"Edward?" Lyra asked, happily surprised. Then her face fell when she saw his solemn expression. "Is everything all right?" Concern flooded her voice and eyes.

"…What are you doing here?" he replied morbidly. There was no sense to her presence here…

"Uh, Rosalie invited me over; we were going to go shopping together." Oh. Well that explained it; still, her timing was very bad. "What's wrong?" she asked again, extending her hand toward him. He stepped back and called out Rosalie's name.

"Lyra?" Rosalie must have forgotten she was coming over during their…family discussion. "That's right, we were supposed to…"

"If it's a bad time we can always do it later. I'm sorry to impose." Lyra quickly wrapped her arms around Edward's shoulders, to comfort him. He tried to recoil in surprise but she held him tight and whispered in his ear, "I hope everything goes all right," and pulled back. He gave her a tiny smile, thanked her, then brushed past to his car.

He hoped in and drove away without a second glance.

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The closest airport was in Seattle, 138 miles away. It would take him about an hour and a half tops, if he took the US-101 E highway. The airport in Seattle was the only one close enough that had a flight to Italy; the one in Port Angeles only had minor flights.

But as he was driving, alone on the desolate highway, his thoughts wandered back to the faces he had just left. His family, sad and broken because he was going to leave them just like Bella had left him. It wasn't the same he knew, because they were his family, but he still felt awful separating from them like that. The hurt they would suffer through…he was always causing more pain…

Then, for some reason, Lyra's face flashed through his mind briefly.

Her face had fallen the moment she sensed someone else's distress. Her eyes had been concerned and even though she hardly knew him and was there to see his sister, not him, she still left so they could handle the situation as a family. She had hugged him even though she didn't know him that well. She was utterly selfless and compassionate. Just like Bella.

That thought was what made him turn around. He couldn't do this; he was a coward. Bella was gone, out of his life now, and he couldn't live without her yet he still couldn't find it in himself to take his life.

"Stupid…" he muttered to himself. He was a hundred miles away from home, but he turned around anyway, not knowing where he was headed.

Within a half an hour, he found himself walking in between bright blue springs, teeming with fish. Next to his meadow, this was his second favorite place to go to think.

He sat on one of the rocks jutting out above the largest pool. As an eel snaked past, he was reminded of La Push. Bella had said she once went there with some friends and was around similar pools to these. He laughed quickly at the memory; she had asked him to come and when he said no, had returned with shallow cuts all over her palms from falling.

The memory was bright and amusing for one second before it was leeched of color, like all the other memories he recalled in his state of depression. Everything he thought about he could connect to Bella, and it soured the memories as well as brought new pain for him to endure. He couldn't even enjoy this place anymore.

Light footsteps crunched through the leaves behind him. He didn't turn around, even as Alice crouched down next to him, putting her arm tightly around his shoulder.

"I saw you would come here," she whispered. He nodded deftly. "Why didn't you go to the airport?"

"I…couldn't. I guess I'm not as strong as I thought."

"Edward, this doesn't mean you're weak," she said with conviction in her voice. "If anything it means that you're strong enough to bear it. You'll make it through this. Just imagine it; if you were able to stay with Bella and love her so much, but it wasn't meant to be, there must be something better out there," she said optimistically, even though she too was hurting from Bella's blatant betrayal. He laughed dryly at the thought of finding _someone else_. Someone _better_ than Bella.

"That's not very comforting."

"No, what's 'not very comforting' is the fact that my brother was going to kill himself because some girl, who's too stupid to know what she's giving up, left him. I loved Bella too, but if she gave you up so easily, she didn't deserve you and you most certainly don't deserve a bitch like her." Edward stared, eyes wide, at his sister and her language. Alice was never one for vulgar terms, especially _that_ word, yet she used it freely on this occasion.

"I thought you would be all torn up Alice. What happened?"

"Sure I loved her, and I was ecstatic because I thought she might join our family." She continued past his wince at the reminder. "But I was more happy over the fact that you finally found someone. Don't you see? That's why we're all happy! Or were. You shouldn't be alone and when you saw her we thought you'd finally found your soul mate. But now, I'm just plain furious at her for turning her back on you, on all of us, for some mongrel she hardly knows. After everything you two went through, after everything we did for her!

"Besides," she added with distaste. "The Volturi wouldn't have killed you anyway. I saw that. You're too much of a waste in their eyes; and in ours. Granted Aro only sees you as a gifted vampire he could use and that's why he wouldn't destroy you; but we know you're a rare kind of man. A true gentleman that cares about others, that's smart beyond belief and kind beyond thought." She gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "You can get through this and we'll all help you. Even Rose." He looked at her skeptically. "I will make Jasper _make_ her if I have to; you don't need her selfishness right now."

"Thank you Alice…do you think this is why you saw us in Alaska?" His sister shrugged.

"Well, the future is still all snarled up so I can't tell, but I'm betting it's got something to do with it."

They sat in silence together, embracing each other as they watched the fish and eels swim by, floating with the unseen currents. Edward was watching a crab crawl over a starfish when Alice's thoughts caught his attention.

_He's so miserable…I don't think he knows Bella still loves him…he can't see it through his pain._

"What do you mean?" Alice hesitated before answering.

"Edward, do you honestly believe Bella just forgot about you?" His were cast down as he stared at the water. "Well she didn't. In fact, she's probably going to be making comparisons between the mutt and you her whole life. She'll always love you Edward, even if she's not acting like it. And I hate to say it, but she'll be happy with the wolf; eventually. She'd have been equally happy with you, but now she's found the one she's meant to be with and given you the chance to do the same, even though her bratty attitude suggests otherwise."

"…Do you really think she'll miss me? That she'll even remember me when she gets to be all caught up in the dog?" He questioned childishly.

"Edward, of course she will." She rubbed his shoulder soothingly. "Not everything that happened between you two was bad or dangerous; sure, she was almost killed twice, by you and James, but the rest was pure bliss for her. Trust me, we all could tell whenever she looked at you. True, she might not look at those times in the same light now that she's with someone else, but she won't forget. You'll always be her first love and she'll always be yours. It's not something that one _can_ forget, if I'm right."

"Thank you Alice," he whispered and kissed her cheek. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone now."

Alice's face fell at his request, but she nodded in understanding and flew off through the trees back to her car. He listened as she drove away, still thinking about him and sending daggers at Bella.

As he blankly stared back in the blue oasis below him, he was surprised to find he couldn't sob wretchedly like he had before. He tried; he wished he could because that would make it easier, but he found it nowhere in himself. Running his hands through his hair, he uncurled from the ball he had been in and sighed.

Now all he had to do was go back, and be strong enough to stand the pain and torment he would no doubt experience.

His car was only three miles away, and within minutes of driving, he was a close enough to hear the thoughts of his family as they waited for him to return.

_Poor guy…_

_Finally, he's over _her_._

_Hopefully we can help him heal._

Then there was Carlisle.

_Welcome back son._

But only part of him was returning. He had left his heart back at the ponds, alone, where it belonged.

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Man that was angsty…as you can see I'm not that good with endings, but this will suffice. I promise the next chapter won't be so annoyingly sad and depressing. Maybe. :D

R&R.

-cally (^o^)


	7. Abuse

**Summary: **Edward gets messages from Bella and Jacob that get him angry. When he looks around his family, he realizes Lyra has become a bigger part of his life and after a surprise run in with her, he also learns some things about her that he wasn't expecting.

**Rating: **T for a little dosing of angst, lots of OOCness and sexual references

**Word Count: **4.4k. Damn and I tried so hard to make this one a little shorter…

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Twilight or its characters, but I certainly own Lyra and the plot here.

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The vibrating phone was ignored. Worried glances were sent toward the man who was ignoring it, but nothing was said. Only looks were exchanged.

The phone beeped loudly, indicating that the person calling was led to voicemail. Another beep said that there was a voicemail to hear.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Rosalie asked, her voice a little too cheerful. They all knew who it was from.

"No," Edward replied blankly. His sister was overjoyed with his aversion to anything Bella-related, convinced that he was finally over her. In truth that was far from the case, but seeing as he was the only mind reader and quite a good liar, nobody could tell what he was feeling, besides Jasper.

That was the thirteenth phone call he had received from her in the past three weeks. At first, she had been apologizing over and over, begging him to talk to her. But the last few kept getting nastier by the day.

"_Edward, please, just let me explain. I really need you to call me when you get this, there's so much I want to tell you_," was the first.

"_Since you didn't call me back, I just want to say that I'm sorry I didn't tell you Jake was over that day, but he's hurting and he's my friend, so please understand that,"_ was the third.

"_Edward, come on, this is getting ridiculous, just let me explain so I can make things right! I miss you…"_ was the seventh.

"_I just thought I should let you know that you are being really childish Edward. I understand that you're hurt, but if you'd let me explain, it wouldn't be so freaking bad between us!"_ That was the tenth, and seeing as he never called her back because things would never be _better_ between them, it led to the cruelest yet.

"_Since you refuse to be reasonable, I'm done waiting for you. If I see you I won't talk to you, I won't even acknowledge you! I'm sick of your childishness Edward, so I've moved on. Don't even bother calling me ever again." _That time he spent the next four days in his room, curled in a ball. He had internally fought between reconsidering going to the Volturi or going to say…_something _to Bella. But her callousness only made him angry now. Besides, he hardly doubted she had been _waiting_ for him in the first place.

Sighing, he picked up his phone and flipped it open, marching up to his room so his siblings wouldn't be able to hear the message that was bound to be there. Of course it was from Bella.

Entering his password, he waited for the hurtful message he was about to endure. But it wasn't Bella's voice that spoke, it was Jacob's.

"_Hello leech, it's Jacob Black. I'd like to _inform_ you that Bella's house is on our land and that we'll be guarding it from now on. Since I _accidentally_ broke the treaty by telling her of your miserable existence, Sam is willing to overlook the fact that you broke the treaty _multiple _times by going to see her. But next time, if for any reason you come near her house again, we will be ready and we won't be as lenient. Have fun living alone forever."_

The message ended abruptly as the piece of plastic crumbled to bits in his hand. His teeth grit together and he had the sudden urge to kill something, violently. The crueler, more animalistic side of his vampire nature was slowly floating to the surface. A growl ripped its way up his throat.

The noise of his family shuffling around downstairs stopped as they heard him snarl silently.

"Edward…" Jasper warned. He could sense his anger and betrayal, his burning need to tear something apart. _What the hell got him so wound up?_ Jasper wondered as he radiated waves of calm around the house. They did little to cool Edward's flaring temper.

A knock at the door froze them all and the resonating sound of a heartbeat was heard.

"Shit, it's Lyra," Rosalie whispered. "If you can't control yourself, leave, Edward. I don't want you hurting her just because you're angry at a pathetic human." Edward snorted as Rosalie opened the door to greet her friend; she was thinking strangely kind thoughts toward this girl. And he was capable of controlling himself, they all knew that; suddenly he was harboring not-so-nice thoughts at Rosalie for her snide and _unnecessary_ comment.

"Hello," Lyra's quiet voice floated up to his room, forcing him to relax so he wouldn't do anything rash.

"Hey Lyra, what's up?" Emmett asked, grinning from ear to ear. He liked this girl, better than he had liked Bella. Granted she didn't know their secret, but she was 'spunky' according to his brother.

"I brought presents!" Lyra squealed. Edward frowned before he remembered the date. May 1st, or May Day. He had been so wrapped up in his own drama that the days had started blurring together.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," Esme teased lightheartedly. Since when had they all become so friendly? True, the girl had been coming over to be with Rosalie and Alice a lot lately, but he didn't think he was so out of touch with the world that he would miss Esme's motherly thoughts toward her.

"Of course I did! You guys are my friends. Plus it was an excuse to go shopping." He saw her wink at Esme through Emmett's amused eyes. She handed them each a bag and ordered them to open their gifts.

As they thanked her and conversed before Lyra was dragged off to the depths of Alice's closet, Edward was flabbergasted with himself. How distant had he been? It had been a short month since his hasty departure to the Volturi and his conversation with Alice at the ponds. Surely they couldn't have bonded this much in that short a period…

Deciding to inquire about his curiosity, he headed downstairs to ask his brothers. Esme smiled happily at him as he descended the staircase, holding her new European cookbook, courtesy of Lyra.

"Hello dear," she greeted. Carlisle patted his shoulder as he made his way up to his office, thinking about the original storybook Lyra had given him.

_I have no idea where she found this, but it's most certainly interesting…_

Apparently Lyra was quite the gift-giver.

"Since when are you guys so chummy with her?" he asked as he sat down next to Jasper on the couch.

"She's been stopping by a lot to hang with Rose and the fashion demon," Emmett explained. "I think she's been coming by to check up on you too; that night you stormed off, you looked like shit. She was worried."

"Thank you Emmett," he retorted curtly. "I'm surprised Rose of all people would be interested in spending time with a human."

"Yeah well, my babe's just full of surprises," Emmett grinned to himself, thinking of their frisky activities last night in the woods.

"Oh, good Lord Emmett, I do _not_ need to see that!" he complained.

"With you on that one," Jasper agreed, shifting uncomfortably. But the lust Emmett was radiating made him start thinking about his conquest the night before with Alice too, making Edward cringe.

"Did everybody have sex last night or something?" he whined. Esme smiled and pushed the thoughts of Carlisle (ugh!) out of her head, and focused on her son's brighter, more natural mood.

Suddenly the phone rang and Esme grabbed it off the receiver, frowning when she saw who it was.

"Hello?" she asked. "Yes, this is his mother." Her glance at him told them all it was about Edward. "Yes…yes…all right I understand…thank you," she hung up and turned to them with a solemn look.

"What was that about?" he asked. Her thoughts were sad.

"They say you've missed too much school to be excused every day. You've been gone too much to be able to pass your classes, so either you drop out or fail and repeat the 11th grade next year."

Silence was cast over the four of them as Edward thought this through. He had been staying home to avoid seeing _her_ at school and to get away from all the questions people were bound to ask, or think. Emmett and Jasper had brought home Edward's homework for him and he had been doing it, but there was only so much he could do at home when he was supposed to be at school.

"I suppose you want to drop out then?" Esme asked when he didn't respond. He nodded mutely, looking down as he twiddled his thumbs. "All right; I'll call them tomorrow morning."

His mother's thoughts were gloomy as she went upstairs to go tell Carlisle. They all hated school and she knew it, but she still had a mother's pride whenever she saw their A+ grade reports and their 5.0 GPAs. He hated taking that away from her, but he didn't see how he could pass when he wasn't going to go back.

Jasper and Emmett stared at him as he listened to Esme's defeated words to Carlisle.

"_Is he sure this is what he wants?"_

"_Yes…you should have seen the look on his face. He looked so sad, like he was in so much pain just by thinking of going. I don't think he would be able to handle seeing Bella if he went back." _

"_Well, all right. I guess we'll call the school tomorrow. Besides, he can just start over next time; we'll have to move in a year or two, we can just say he went to a boarding school or private institution if people ask." _Esme sighed and sat down in his lap.

"_I hate to see him suffering like this,"_ she whimpered. Edward's head drooped in shame as his brothers watched.

"Don't worry man, everything will turn out," Emmett grabbed his shoulder and shook it gently, his way of comfort. Edward was about to thank him when they all heard a squeal from upstairs.

"OH MY GOD!" Rosalie yelled. Alice was laughing and so was Lyra.

All three boys walked up to see what was the matter and saw Rosalie gripping a pair of shoes to her chest, cradling them like a baby. She looked up at them with crazy eyes.

"Look you guys! LOOK!" she shoved the shoes toward them and they all jerked back. Whenever she got like this, they all knew they should be wary and back away slowly, like they were facing some wild animal. Which they were.

"What?" Emmett asked in a confused voice. Rosalie glared at him crazily, one eye bigger than the other in a creepy way.

"Do you _not know_ what these are?" she screeched, making Alice and Lyra laugh harder on the bed.

"Uh, no," they all said in unison.

"These are the Vera Wang shoes from 1993 that I have been looking for! I finally found them!" She was jumping with joy now. "Thank you so much!" She ran over and hugged Lyra who was still laughing and smiling.

"Oh great," Emmett groaned, his shoulders slumping. Jasper laughed heartily and Edward smiled. He left his brothers to try to calm down their wives and went to his room as the sadness of seeing his happily married siblings started to take a toll.

Then he noticed Carlisle and Esme were gone, no longer in the office. He caught faint wisps of thoughts traveling through the woods three miles away and winced. All the talk of his brothers recent 'feats' had stirred up the voluptuous urges in his parents.

He shuddered. He had heard them before and knew they were in love and all, but it was still weird.

As he settled in his room he heard footsteps come to a stop outside his door. A soft knock echoed throughout the room.

"Edward? Can I come in?" It was Lyra.

"Yes," he replied. His siblings were still trying to calm Rosalie down so she must have slipped away from them. Lyra entered holding a little blue bag with a shiny bow on it.

"Here," she said simply and handed him the gift. He looked at her uncertainly and opened it, pulling out a three disk set of Edith Piaf songs. Lyra laughed when his eyebrows rose in surprise. "I know you already speak Spanish and that you like music, so I thought you'd like this. I always hear classical music playing form your stereo when I'm here and I figured you might like her," she explained.

"Oh…uh, thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything…" he stuttered, unsure of what to say. Why would she be giving him a gift when he's been ignoring her for the past month?

"It's all right. I heard about you and Bella," she confessed. "I guessed that was the reason you've been skipping school, so I thought I'd get you something for May Day to cheer you up. Hopefully." She smiled kindly at him.

"Thank you," he said again. It was the kindest thing a human had done for him in his 110 years of life.

"You're welcome," she smiled again and turned to leave the room, her skirt swishing as she walked out and closed the door.

Suddenly, as he held the gift from a stranger in his hands, Edward found himself not as sad anymore.

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Edward walked through the near-empty halls of Forks High School, ignoring the shocked, confused and flirtatious looks he was getting from the few humans that were there. He rolled his eyes as he passed the volleyball squad doing laps around the hallways, who all stopped and gawked at him. Jessica Stanley's mental voice was especially prominent.

_Holy crap! Why is it he gets hotter every time I see him? Is he coming back? If he's broken up with Bella and suddenly interested in dating I'd be happy to help with that...oh swoon…_

Edward's left eye twitched at her vulgar, detailed daydreams as he walked into the office.

"Mrs. Cope?" The red-headed woman looked up at him through her thick glasses, her heartbeat immediately speeding up.

"Edward! Decided to start coming back to school?"

"Actually no, I came here to drop of my books. Principal Franklin told me to drop them off here." He set the 3 books he had to return on her desk.

"Oh! Well, give me a moment to find your papers dear," she said in a high-pitched, nervous voice. As she scrolled through documents on her dinosaur-sized computer, she kept repeating the same words in her head. _Too young, definitely too young to think of in that way…I wonder why he's dropping out? Too young…_

Hiding his smirk, he walked over and sat in a waiting chair until she found his records. He was used to narrow-minded humans like Mrs. Cope and all the girls in this blasted school that lusted after him and his brothers. Some of the frivolous things they came up with were embarrassing, especially when it was a female teacher or an older woman like the secretary in front of him. Which happened more than one would think.

"All right, I found it. I guess your mother has taken care of everything, so I'll take these and you're all set to go. I hope you do well, whatever the reason is for you leaving," she nodded him farewell, secretly hoping he would reveal his decision to drop out.

"Thank you." He nodded back and stepped out into the hallway, immersed in his thoughts. So once again, he didn't see the person he rammed right into.

"Oof!" Lyra yelled as she fell onto her backside and dropped her bag and all her papers so they scattered. "Edward?" she asked, squinting through her glasses up at him. "Wow, we just keep on meeting like this don't we?" she laughed nervously.

"I'm so sorry!" Edward extended him hand to help her get up, awkwardness making his actions slow. Lyra was pulling down her skirt, trying to protect her modesty as she got up.

"Since when do you have glasses?" he inquired when she was on her feet.

"I've had them this whole time, my mom just makes me wear contacts," she explained as she dusted herself off.

"Ah," he replied as he bent down to pick up the papers he had made her drop, just like last time, as she shouldered her bag. "So what are you doing here so late after school?"

"I just had to stay after to make up a test I was gone for," she said hoarsely. She kept on moving back and forth, like she was trying to see something. "You?" Was it just him or did she sound like she was trying to distract him?

"Had to return my books. I've decided to give up school this year so I can look into a boarding school in Spain," he lied. That sounded like a reasonable story. He stood up and handed her papers back to her. She smiled nervously again and tried to grab them quickly, but he held on as he read the words on the top pink flyer.

"E-Edward…" she stuttered, still trying to get the papers away from him, but he wouldn't let go. Finally she managed to take them out of his hard grasp. He looked up at her, horrified. Her slightly embarrassed, defeated eyes rose to meet his, then looked back down at the floor as they stood there awkwardly.

"Lyra…what…what is that for?" he asked sternly.

"It's nothing Edward all right, just-"

"It didn't look like nothing!" He yanked the paper away from her and reread it, to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

_You're not alone, and it isn't your fault. 1 out of 6 women in the United States has been sexually assaulted in their life. Come to our meeting, and we'll help you begin the process of healing you deserve._

Edward pressed his lips together grimly and looked up at Lyra, who looked like she was trying not to cry. He deftly handed the sheet back to her and she held it to her chest defensively, not looking at him.

"Lyra," he started, putting his hand on her shoulder gently. "Has someone hurt you?"

After a few seconds of silence, she nodded her head twice and started crying. Edward stood there awkwardly for a minute, not knowing what to do or how to console her. A pat on the shoulder and a 'there, there' would be rude and inconsiderate. So he just pulled her gently into a hug.

She continued to weep for three more minutes and luckily no one passed by. Edward felt strange, holding a crying girl; Bella still plagued his mind every second and he felt like he was betraying her somehow.

Eventually Lyra quieted down and looked up at him, smiling sheepishly.

"Thanks," she whispered as he pulled out a Kleenex from his pocket to give to her.

"Do you have a ride home?" he asked cautiously. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how she would react to his gesture, given the fact that she didn't know him very well. She shook her head no. "Do you need one?" she nodded. "All right…well, uh, follow me," he said awkwardly.

They walked to his car not making eye contact. As he started the car and turned the heater on, he realized he didn't know where she lived. Suddenly this wasn't very good idea; if the wolves caught his scent on their side of the line…

"Where do you live?"

"On the edge of town. Take the main road until you get to Cricket Street, then turn left and keep going until you get to the last house on the road." Thank God it was on their side of the treaty line.

It was quiet as he drove. He wanted to ask her a question that had been stirring around in his head since they left the school, but he wasn't sure if she was in the right state for him to do so.

"Lyra, can I ask you something?" she just nodded yes and waited. "This abuse…was it one of the reasons you moved back to America?" Lyra whipped her head around and he thought she was angry, but her face looked surprised. "You said earlier, when we ran into each other at the mall, that there were other reasons besides your father getting his job back."

"Oh…yeah. It was." She paused and took a deep breath. "When we moved back to Bulgaria…it started again.

"It was my uncle who was doing it; I told my mom about it when I was young, because he started hurting me before we moved to America, but I never told her it was him."

Edward's shocked silence made her stop. She bit her lip and looked down, and he tried to tune out all of the vague images spewing from her head.

"You can tell me, if you want to…" he assured her. Smiling grimly, she looked out her window and continued.

"…One day I was doing homework in my room upstairs and he came to our house. My mother wasn't there, my dad was at work and my brother was at a friend's house, like usual. I didn't hear him come in until I saw his shadow behind me." Her fists clenched the seat and she grit her teeth at the memory.

"My dad ended up coming home early and he saw my uncle's car in the driveway. My uncle didn't hear him calling out because he was too…_immersed_. But I did so I started thumping my hand against the wall so my dad would hear me. He burst into the room and pulled his brother off of me. I was crying and had bruises all over my arms and face, because he held me down…" She drifted off for a moment before coming back.

"After that, my dad called the police and my uncle was arrested. When I was finally done crying, I told them it wasn't the first time. He ended up going to jail for 20 years, but people started avoiding our family, so my father wasn't doing so well at work once people heard what happened."

"They avoided him because of what happened to you? Why?" Edward asked incredulously.

"Over in Europe, even though things aren't as old-fashioned anymore, a man is supposed to protect his family. When people found out that my dad was too absorbed in his work to notice that his own brother had been raping his daughter nearly her whole life, they blamed him for it. I don't and nobody in my family does, but others didn't feel the same as us."

"That's so…stupid!" To his surprise, Lyra laughed at his choice of words.

"Yes, well, even if it was stupid, you can't change what people think. To make it easier on all of us, my dad asked if he could have his job over in America back. When they said yes, we moved within the month and now I'm here."

Edward parked the car in her driveway, sitting in his seat numbly. No wonder he had caught all those flashes of pain in her eyes when she talked about her home in Bulgaria! Every time she had been there, someone in her own family had hurt her. They had reminded her so many times...

"I'm so sorry…" was all he could think to say. Lyra laughed through her nose once and looked at him.

"Well, it's in the past and hopefully it won't happen again." She paused. "I guess I should go inside." Unbuckling her seat belt, she grabbed her bag and opened the door. "Thank you," she said as she slid out.

"Lyra!" he called before she shut the door. She bent down to look at him, unaware of how low this made her shirt go. He averted his eyes.

"I know you don't know me all that well and it may seem awkward because of things with Bella. But, even though it might sound strange…you can always talk to me." He promised, albeit uneasily. But Lyra just smiled and thanked him again, walking up to her house and going inside. She looked back once to wave at him.

He waited until she was safely inside the house to drive away. This explained why he had felt so protective of her whenever he saw her around people; he had unconsciously detected that scared feeling she had around others. Now that he thought about it, her eyes always hardened a little and her shoulders hunched inward slightly whenever she was around a man, whether it was Mike Newton or a teacher like Mr. Varner.

Now that he knew what made her so uneasy, he would be very careful around her. She needed someone there for her, since Bella didn't seem to care that much anymore. Someone to talk to.

As he drove toward home, he smiled. It was just like it had been with Bella; suddenly he found himself acting as the protector of a human. But this time, it was a girl that had already been hurt, one that needed it as much mentally as she did physically.

Now that he had established a relationship with her, however small it was, he just had one thing left to do.

Talk to Rosalie.

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Finally! Some things are explained! To those of you who are sensitive to the things I mentioned (i.e. Lyra's story) then you might not want to read further, because it will be mentioned a few more times. And no, I just made up Cricket St., I don't know if it's a real street in Forks.

And just so we are clear, it's not that I think people over in Europe are more…susceptible to abuse/are abusive or something like that. I put it in this story as plot, and as a little personal release of my own, so please don't be offended.

R&R.

-cally (^o^)

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	8. Mental Virtues

**Summary: **It's time for school to be out and Edward finds himself happier, mostly because he has been talking to Lyra more. When Lyra calls and asks him to come over, what will happen?

**Rating: **T, language, some OOCness and slight creepiness, depending on how easily you scare.

**Word Count: **The longest chapter yet, ~4.9 k. Geez, why are these getting so long?

**DISCLAIMER: **I still don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does. God world, what is wrong with you?

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Rosalie's face was still incredulous by the time they got home. She couldn't grasp what Edward had just told her.

"Remember, you can't tell _anyone_, not even Emmett or Alice. If anybody asks, you. _Can't. Tell_," he ordered sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just can't get over it…someone _hurt_ her?"

After he had dropped Lyra off at her house, Edward had called Rosalie and told her to meet him at the school, to run there so they could talk. In the five minutes they had before their family would hear them, Edward told Rosalie what Lyra had just told him, at vampire speed. And she was not taking it in very well.

"Yes."

"Her own _uncle_?"

"Yes."

"That's so…ugh! I knew I was connected to her!" Now Rosalie was fuming. Her thoughts were a jumble of expletives as she cursed the man who hurt her and the man who hurt her friend. Their talk had brought the memory of her attack back. But as her thoughts calmed down, she spoke again.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"It's it obvious?" he asked, a little curt. It had to be! "She needs someone there for her Rosalie. Ever since Bella and I broke up," he tried to cover the pain in his voice, "she's been ignoring Lyra at the worst time, so that strikes one confidant. Her own family doesn't care about how hurt she is, so that puts them out of the picture as well. I'm sorry that it brought up your memory and that I'm pushing this on you, but she's your friend and judging by her thoughts, you and Alice are her only friends too. You can relate and she needs that right now."

"Since when do you care so much about her anyways?" Rosalie sneered, though it wasn't as harsh as usual. The human girl had gotten to her.

"I don't know…I ran into her and I guess I just don't want a nice girl like her to be in so much pain. She doesn't deserve that; nobody does."

"Well…what do you want me to do? I mean I can't bring it up at school or at her house or at ours! This was a stupid plan!" she exclaimed. Trust Rosalie to be the pessimist in this situation.

"Please, just try," he pleaded. After a few moments of speculation, Rosalie looked at him with a glint in her eyes.

"You really care for her don't you?"

"She…makes me forget, sometimes. I hardly know her, but she's so…concerned that she distracts me. From feeling all the pain I have been. It always comes back, but whenever I talk to her, no matter how short it is, the pain isn't as bad. I guess that's why I want to make sure she's not alone with this." He whispered. It sounded strange, and he knew Rosalie would take it the wrong way, but that was how he felt. The look on Lyra's face when he opened the door to go to Italy, when she gave him his present, when they spoke at school…if only briefly, he didn't feel so empty after seeing her.

"Sounds like someone's got a crush," his sister teased. In her mind, he could tell she wasn't serious, just amused. And that she wouldn't tell anybody about their conversation.

"Thank you Rosalie." He said, referring to her promise, not her goading.

"Yeah, whatever."

They hopped out of his car and strode into the house, going their separate ways. Rosalie went out into the garage to pay attention to her car and Edward sat down with Carlisle on the sofa to watch TV. His attention was caught by the 4 o'clock breaking story in Seattle.

"A string of brutal, month-long murders have been connected to yet _another_ unidentified body. Police say they don't know who is responsible, or how these people are being killed, but they have told us that dental records were needed to identify the victims, due to 4th degree burns, making all of the bodies unrecognizable. Last night, another name was added to the list of nine dead. We can only hope the culprit is caught soon enough."

_This is getting out of hand…_Carlisle thought. _Is it a vampire or just a serial killer? If the bodies were burned it could be an immortal trying not to be discovered. They've certainly attracted enough attention already._

"Do you think it's a newborn?" Edward asked.

"No; a newborn wouldn't have burned the bodies. They would have just left them there. However, no matter what kind of being this is, we should go check the crime scenes out, see if we can pick up a scent."

"Ask Emmett to go; he's been dying for some action since Jasper stopped wrestling with him a week ago." Carlisle smiled dryly at his son's morbid humor.

"So what was the talk with Rosalie about? She seemed awfully distracted when you two came in." Just as he asked, they heard a hiss and a curse coming from the garage where Rosalie was. She really _was_ distracted by his news, if she couldn't focus on her car properly.

"It was nothing. I just wanted to talk to her about something, that's all." His father looked at Edward for a few moments, stewing over whether or not he should push further.

"All right," he gave in.

As Edward was ascending the stairs to go brood in his room, Carlisle called out for him.

"Edward?"

"Yes?"

"How are you feeling?" The random question made Edward stop and turn around.

"Meaning?"

"I've just noticed that you've been acting a little differently lately." _Happier_, he added.

"Well I don't feel any different than usual." That wasn't true, but he really wanted to go to his room.

"All right. I was just checking." His father sat back down on the couch and resumed watching the news.

When he reached his room, Edward sat on his leather sofa, contemplating what he would do now. The shiny glimmer of plastic on the other side of the room caught his eyes and he walked over to find the CD's Lyra had given him.

Smiling, he put a disc into his stereo, and let the calming sounds wash over him.

**(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)(0)**

It was June 9th, the day his sibling's torture would end. The day school was finally done for the year and they could get away from all the stupid humans and arrogant teachers. Edward covered his ears from the squeals and hollers of joy his siblings gave out when they came home.

As his brothers and sisters ran around the house loudly, Edward pulled out his phone the second it vibrated.

**I feel bad for you. The moment the bell rang, I could hear Emmett wooting as he ran toward the parking lot. Are your ears bleeding yet? **

Smiling, he replied.

**No, but I bet they will be soon. Is your brother happy school's out?**

Ever since Lyra had confided in him on May Day, they had grown somewhat closer. Alice had snuck Lyra's phone number onto his cell and they had gotten to occasionally texting each other. Even though Edward initially despised texting, because so many people at school had _always_ had their phones out, he didn't mind so much when it was her.

**Yeah, he is. Hey, I'm going to dinner with some friends, do you and your sisters want to come? It'll be fun.**

Edward frowned at the invitation. One, he couldn't eat and people would be bound to notice so he couldn't go. Two, he despised Mike Newton (who was probably attending) and three, even though it had been two months since Bella and the dog had gotten together, Edward was still heartbroken over it. His siblings had already been giving him enough crap about liking Lyra and he didn't need it from humans too.

**No. I think Esme wants me to stay with my family tonight. They'll be celebrating like we've won a war or something.**

**All right, I'll talk to you later than. Have fun.** She ended the message with a little smiley face.

Edward snapped his phone shut and put it in his pocket just as Emmett bounded down the stairs.

"Who ya talkin' to?" he asked, flopping down next to his brother on the living room sofa.

"Nobody."

"Yeah right, gimme that!" Emmett lunged for the little bulge in Edward's pant pocket and got slapped. "Ow!" he complained. When Edward was laughing at Emmett's fake-hurt look, his brother took advantage of his distraction and took the phone out, scrolling through the messages.

"Hey!" Edward shouted.

"Ooo! Sounded like someone's sending love messages!" Emmett teased. A minute later, when everybody else descended the stairs, they found the two rolling around the floor, fighting over the phone.

"Give it back!" Edward shouted around his arms, which were trapped around Emmett's head in a headlock.

"No way!"

They stopped when they realized their family was looking at them in amusement, suppressing laughter.

"What's going on?" Esme asked with her hand in front of her mouth.

"Edward's texting his new girlfriend!" Emmett yelled, before being kneed in the stomach as Edward grabbed his phone back. He looked back at his family, who all had shocked faces, even Alice.

"Lyra isn't my girlfriend. She was merely concerned about me because she heard _you_ thundering around campus after school let out!"

They all looked unconvinced as Emmett raucously pounded the floor with his hand, face down and laughing.

"We're all going out, do you guys want to come? Jasper and I are going hunting while the girls are going shopping." Carlisle distracted them.

"I'm in!" Emmett hopped up eagerly, his thoughts hinted with bloodlust. All of their eyes were black by now.

"Let's go!" Jasper bellowed and ran out to the car. Apparently they were going somewhere that would take too long to run to.

As they drove up to Goat Rocks Park, their favorite hunting grounds, Edward became worried. His brothers were far too eager for this, and Jasper was trying to hold his semi-coherent thoughts together. Carlisle and Edward were the only two in the car who didn't really need to go hunting right now, even though their eyes were dark.

The minute they parked, Jasper and Emmett flew out of the vehicle and sprinted off into the woods. Their thoughts were both competitive and full of thirst, like usual. Edward shook his head; why couldn't Jasper just accept his limits? It was dangerous for him to be around all the humans at school when he was this thirsty, especially when the adrenaline from getting out of school for the summer pumped through their veins. It only made them smell sweeter and he knew that.

"Shall we?" Carlisle asked, waving his hand to where the others had run off to.

Edward nodded and they were gone in a flash of sparkling skin.

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That night, when they got back from hunting, Edward found that he didn't mind his brother's antics quite so much anymore. Before, he had been severely annoyed when they would stomp and yell at each other as they played video games, or scream at the TV when a football game was on. Those were things that broke into his sulking, when he was depressed and wanted to be alone.

But now, as the days seemed to be brighter and his mood seemed to be higher, he was starting to actually enjoy their company again. And as they goaded and mocked each other, trying to kill one another in their stupid little game, Edward was laughing and providing commentary like he used to.

_Looks like he's better. At least a little…_ Jasper thought happily. He had been almost as bothersome as Rosalie, except for different reasons and in different ways. Edward's depression and anger had gone straight to his empath brother, affecting him as well.

_I wonder if this has anything to do with Lyra? He really seems to like her…DAMMIT JASPER!_ Emmett thought.

"DAMMIT JASPER!" his brother screamed as he was finally defeated. Jasper let out a triumphant holler and proceeded to do a little victory dance. As his bear of a brother shook his head in denial, and Jasper rubbed his victory in their brother's face, Edward's phone rang. They all were quiet and his brother's looked at him.

Pulling out his new phone, Edward looked at the caller ID. _Who would be calling this late?_ He thought. But his question was answered when _**Lyra**_ flashed across the tiny screen.

"Well answer it!" the other two vampires chimed. Edward shoved them away and sped up to his room before answering.

"Hello?"

"Edward?" Lyra's voice sounded frantic and scared.

"Lyra? What's wrong? It's 11 o'clock why are you calling so late?" What could be her reason?

"Look, I know this is going to sound stupid, but would you come over for a bit?"

"What, right now?" he asked incredulously. It was pitch black out!

"Yeah; I just got home, both of my parents are gone on business and my brothers at a friend's…do you mind? I keep hearing noises and it's probably just me being paranoid but I'm really starting to freak out," she explained hurriedly.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay. Thank you…"

"No problem." He hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and keys and flew out to the garage, ignoring his sibling's questions.

As he sped down the road toward his friend's house, he felt oddly anxious to see her, to make sure she was all right. The way her voice had sounded, so frightened and insecure…it brought back the protective feeling he had when it came to her and Bella. She had been hurt so much already, he couldn't let it happen again, if he could help it. Especially by _another_ **human**.

Pulling into her driveway, past the mailbox and paths of bright flowers, he rushed to the door and knocked.

"Lyra?" he asked, anxiety in his voice. His feelings had been so out of whack lately, with all the jumbled emotions, and they all seemed to come out when he was around this girl.

Finally, though it had only been a few seconds, Lyra opened the door and relief colored both of their faces.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for coming. I know it was childish, but I get spooked easily…" she explained sheepishly.

"It's all right, I don't mind. In fact I'm glad you called; it was an excuse to get me away from my barbarian brothers," he chuckled. When her face fell slightly, he hurried to explain, stuttering. "N-no! I mean, that not the only reason I came, it's just nice to be with someone civilized, no matter the reason…" he trailed off, scratching his head awkwardly. He always became flustered around her, at some point.

"Okay. Do you want to come in?" Was that hopefulness in her voice?

"Sure. Unless you just want me to look around." He offered.

"Actually, if you don't mind, would you stay for a bit? You don't have to, I'm just kind of freaked out right now and-"

"Stop," he interrupted. "Lyra, I'm your friend. If you need me then I'll be here. It's not like I'm dying to go back home anyways." He rolled his eyes at the memory of all the hair pulling that ensued when Emmett killed Jasper again.

She stepped aside to let him in and he stopped in the entryway to take in his lavish surroundings.

He hadn't really noticed before, but when he thought about all the shoes and clothes Lyra had, along with her car, her parents must be rich. And from the looks of their house, they were loaded.

Everything that was wood was a dark, brownish cherry color and the walls were all light, neutral tones of red or brown. The kitchen had the finest cookware and the living room had the plushest, softest furniture. There were decorative flowers, pictures, lamps and little knick-knacks on the tables and walls.

"Wow," he sighed, impressed. Not many humans in this area had that much money, and he had never really seen the inside of a human's house before, besides Bella's. A tight pain enveloped his chest at the thought of his ex-girlfriend, but he tried to ignore it when Lyra spoke.

"Yeah, my mom likes to decorate and buy stuff. You have to admit though, she does have good taste." She said as she silently shut the door, locking it and the deadbolt.

"Yes," he agreed simply. Then he noticed Lyra awkwardly leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms crossed and her eyes wandering everywhere, except toward him. "So…" he started, making Lyra finally look at him.

"Hmmm?"

"What do you want to do?" he asked, ineptness coloring his tone and thoughts. He had never been alone with her before, and when they had been in each other's company, Rose or Emmett was always there to grab her attention. What if she started to feel uneasy around him? It was natural for a human's subconscious to tell them he and his family were dangerous, and she was already uneasy because of being alone…

"Well, I need to fill out some papers to help out for my church...do you mind?"

"No, not at all." She nodded and turned, going up the stairs tucked in between the kitchen and living room walls. He followed her, paying attention to their surroundings as they ascended. She opened a door and strode into a burgundy-red painted room. He stopped at the door when he realized this must be _her_ room.

Apparently Lyra really liked flowers. Not overpoweringly so, but she had three vases with peach and yellow roses in them, one at her desk, another on her bed-stand and the last on a bookshelf. Her off-white, green and pink bedspread had little flowers too. She was probably the one that planted all the flowers outside.

"You like flowers," he stated. She whirled around, her hand flying over her heart. He tilted his head in confusion. Had he scared her?

"Edward?"

"Yes?"

"You came up." Then he realized she had probably wanted him to wait downstairs, since she seemed rather private and oh God, he was in her room…

"Oh…I'm sorry, I guess I just thought we were going up here…do you want me to go back down?" he asked, uncertainty and awkwardness marring his voice.

"Uh…no, since we're up here, you minus well stay." She grabbed her purse and pulled out some folded papers, laying them on her desk. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"No thank you." He was distracted as he looked at her many books. Most of them were in Bulgarian or Russian, but some were in English and they looked fascinating. "May I?" he inquired, pointing to the novels.

"Sure."

As she focused on her work, Edward scrolled through the titles of her books. He was aware that she would look at him every so often, and her thoughts would go into a fluster, but that was normal. Most human women did that when they looked at him or his brothers.

When he found a volume he was familiar with, Pride and Prejudice, against all odds, he sat on her bed and began reading. He was vaguely conscious of the fact that she became embarrassed when he did this, but he was determined to cover up his discomfiture as well.

Then they both stopped what they were doing as they heard a noise outside.

"You heard that right?" Lyra asked in a high-pitched voice, her heartbeat and breathing picking up. He nodded mutely and got up, using his extra hearing to try to figure out what it was. The scuffling and fast, tiny heartbeat told him it was some kind of small animal, a skunk or raccoon maybe.

"It's probably just a raccoon or something," he voiced his thoughts. But Lyra didn't know about his extra vampire senses and got even more paranoid.

"Are you sure?" He could tell she was trying to stay composed. But then it hit him that she was genuinely frightened, and rightly so. He tried to block the mental images of a man's face in her mind, pictures of her bruised face in the mirror. No wonder she had asked him over; she was worried it was someone here to hurt her. How had he missed this?

"Do you want me to go check it out?" Despite what his brain was telling him, he was slightly amused. No matter what it was, he could handle it; she had no reason to be frightened. But she didn't know that, so he humored her and held out his arm. She rushed over and grasped it anxiously.

They went downstairs and looked around. The sound was coming from the porch, so he walked over and opened the door, letting the breeze ruffle the lace curtains.

"Aren't you the least bit scared?" she hissed as they stepped out and looked around.

"No, look," he said and pointed to a bush that was rustling. She screamed as it moved, but he laughed as the raccoon lumbered out, looked at them lazily and sauntered off. She slapped his arm, offended and huffed back inside. "I'm sorry, that was rude," he called after her as she marched back upstairs.

"Yes, it was."

They looked at each other for about ten seconds before they both dissolved into laughter. Lyra because she had been afraid of a raccoon, and him because of how they were acting. All of his awkwardness was gone; now they were just acting like they were old friends, something totally new to him, but pleasant.

When they both composed themselves, Lyra hummed a quiet laugh and looked away from him, staring at her hand on her desk. Edward couldn't help but smile; she looked rather cute like that…

"I'm sorry I dragged you all the way out here to find a raccoon," she apologized.

"It's all right; I understand, the concept of being home alone late at night usually scares most people."

"Yeah, well now I know it's just a stupid raccoon, so…you can go if you want." But she sounded like she didn't want him to, and to be honest, he didn't.

"I'd like to stay, if you'll have me." He smiled a crooked smile. "I don't think I'm quite ready to go back home yet." Lyra just smiled, gestured to his book and resumed her homework.

After a quite hour of her pencil scratching and him reading several chapters of one of his favorite classics, he put the book aside and looked around her room.

Alice would be jealous of this place. It was very girly, with all the flowers, the light bedspread, the pink walls and huge closet. The closet was open and he could see all her things, including the billion pairs of shoes she had. That was one thing he would never understand; why did women always need so many shoes? Either black, brown or white goes with anything.

He also noticed that she had quite a few pictures and knick-knacks. Little baubles like figurines or pretty rocks covered the top of her bookshelves, and frames were lined up against the walls. In most of them, it was Lyra and someone else, hugging them for the pictures. He recognized her brother and mother in most of them.

As he stood looking at the pictures, he accidentally knocked off a little black box from the shelf. Lyra looked to see what the sound was from, stiffening when he picked it up.

"What's this?" he asked politely. The sound of teeth gritting together intruded his ears and he was about to take back his question when she answered.

"My purity ring."

This confused Edward; why wasn't she wearing it then? From what he understood, Orthodox religions usually made people were their purity rings until they were married, whether they were virgins or not.

"Why aren't you wearing it?"

"I would have thought that was fairly obvious," she retorted dryly, biting sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Not really." He said. He turned and walked over to her, balancing the box on her knee. She held the box gently, like it was fragile, and opened it, staring at the silver ring with tiny diamonds inside.

"I'm surprised you haven't guessed," she whispered and snapped the velvet cube shut, putting it on her desk.

"If you're referring to what you told me a month ago, then it still isn't that obvious," he smiled softly at her. Her confused expression made him explain. "Lyra, I don't know what you think of yourself, but purity isn't just physical, it's mental as well. Just because you were forced to give your virginity to some pig doesn't mean you don't have right to wear that." He pointed to the box, but to his surprise, she snorted.

"Tell that to my mother," she mumbled. A look of horror spread across Edward's face.

"She told you not to wear it anymore?" he gasped. She nodded.

"She told me that since _it_ had…happened…so many times, that there wasn't really a point. No one wants an unwrapped present after all." Edward's brow furrowed at her self-deprecating words.

"You don't see yourself very clearly, Lyra," he whispered. The moment he said those words, he remembered saying them once before, just to a different girl for a different reason. She snorted again and looked away. "Seriously!" he assured her. "You're smart, talented, beautiful, funny, all the things anybody would like. Just because one man decided to try to control you doesn't mean he can control you for the rest of your life. You can't let this define you.

"Trust me, I know what it's like to have something happen that you can't fix, that makes you feel like someone else. All you have to do is get past it." His words were true; when he first became a vampire he had isolated himself away from everybody. He had been Mr. Doom and Gloom, simply because he thought that's how others thought of him, or how they _should_ think of him.

"You don't understand…it's my culture for women to be a certain way and for men to be a certain way. Women are supposed to cook, clean, sew, have babies, maybe have a job. Men are supposed to do all the labor and bring home the money. Because of what happened to me, a lot of men don't see me as being able to fill that role, so I have to try harder."

"Lyra…" How could he say this without offending her and her culture? "Look, it may not be my place to say this, but you should just be you. Be who you want to be, not anybody else. If people view you as hopeless, like you say your mother does, then why don't you just do what you want? Break from your culture's stereotypes and live the life you want to, instead of what your family wants you too." He waited for her reaction, hoping he hadn't offended her.

But she simply smiled and yawned, making him laugh.

"You should go to sleep, it's past midnight." He said in his soothing, non-scary voice just for humans.

"Yeah," she agreed wearily. "I guess. Thanks for coming over…" she mumbled, suddenly overcome by sleepiness. She walked over and hugged him unexpectedly. "You're a good friend. I'm fine now, no more scaredy cat here."

To his surprise and hers, Edward hugged her back. It felt good to feel human warmth again; he hadn't realized how much he had missed it. He ignored the rhythmic pulse of blood in her neck that was so close to his mouth, and instead focused on the fragile girl in his arms. Good thing he had hunted earlier…

They said goodnight and Edward waited until her bedroom light went off before he got back out of his car and scaled a tree next to the house. Looking around and listening, he heard nothing, just the rustling of that raccoon half a mile away. Satisfied, his eyes strayed back to her window, and he saw her slim figure curled up in the bed, asleep.

As he looked at her face, his heart began to swell. Even from his perch on the branch a hundred yards from her house, he could still see her perfectly. Her long dark hair twisted across the sheets, one hand curled next to her face with the other under the pillow. The image was nearly the exact same as another he had once gazed upon months ago. But the memory of seeing Bella, peaceful and asleep, no longer held the heavy dose of pain it used to.

For the first time in weeks, Edward began to feel like his cold, dead heart was finally healing.

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So there's a little sap and humor. I find it funny and somewhat creepy that Edward liked to watch Bella sleep, so I decided to throw that in there too. Next chapter there will be even more development ;D

R&R

-cally (^o^)


	9. Finally Falling

**Summary: **Edward runs into Bella and Jacob while he's with Esme, which leads to questioning from his family and an epiphany of his own.

**Rating: **T, for language, snarky attitudes and maybe a little inappropriateness.

**Word Count: **Almost 4k. Yay, a shorter chapter! I'm saved from carpal tunnel…for now! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Don't own Twilight, sorry.

**WARNING**: There is **Bella bashing** in this chapter so **don't go complaining in a review** if you **don't **like it.

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_She's so jealous! _Rosalie was mentally shrieking in joy.

Edward had been his siblings chauffeur around most of town and usually just waited in the car. That day, he had brought them to the mall in Seattle, where the girls went off shopping and the boys went to Best Buy. Apparently Bella had also chosen this day to go as well, and it hadn't been pretty.

Against his will, Edward saw all that had happened when they girls had been in a DSW store, though why they thought they needed _more_ shoes he didn't know. Alice had decided she wanted Lyra in their lives as much as possible, so they had met up. They had been trying on some shoes, showing them off and all that girly stuff, when Bella had walked past holding a box of tennis shoes.

Bella froze the moment she saw them. She would have ignored them, had Lyra not popped up from behind on of the shoe-organizing half-walls. The minute they saw each other, all the laughing stopped. An awkward moment had passed with them just staring at each other, and then Bella's eyes narrowed and her lips tightened.

Even Edward, from an outside view, could tell she was jealous. Rosalie took great pride in this fact, and the whole way home it was mildly grating on his nerves. But something else was distracting him as he wove down the empty road to their house.

That memory had been the first time Edward had seen Bella since he had looked through Carlisle's eyes the time she had come to the house to apologize. It had been like a hit to his gut from Emmett; it didn't hurt, with his granite skin, but it ached slightly. His breathing hitched quietly at first but quickly returned to normal.

For the first time, thinking of Bella didn't make him angry or sad. It made him feel embarrassed. Not only because of how he had fawned over her and what other people thought of their relationship, but also because she was jealous of her friend because of him and his family. He was used to human jealousy, mostly; all the girls at school that fantasized about him and his brothers were envious because they could never have them, whatever the reason. They were lucky none of them appealed to any of his family members.

They all clambered out of his Volvo and dashed off to their own devices, like normal. Even in bleak, rainy Forks, they had to be careful in the summer; believe it or not, the sun actually shone a few times.

But his day was to be ruined, because Esme decided they needed mother-son time. Which apparently meant going to the grocery store. Together.

Edward wasn't fussy about his activities, especially if it pleased his mother-figure, but this was one thing he hated, one of the few things that made him act like a common teenage boy. He knew they had to do it, but he really didn't want to.

As they strolled through the aisles, getting human necessities they didn't need, Edward felt his phone vibrate. He expected it to be from Lyra, since she was the only one who ever texted him, but it was from Alice.

**Beware, that shopping trip is going to get nasty, **was all it said. He was about to ask why, but the moment he looked up, he knew. The screaming thoughts 20 feet away didn't help.

Because there, across the fruit section, stood Bella and Jacob, hand in hand. Jacob had seen, or probably smelled him, and was glaring; Bella on the other hand hadn't noticed, but he guessed from Alice's message that she was about to.

"Esme," he ground out between lips that were pressed together, trying to be discreet in his warning. Of course she looked up at him curiously; it was times like these that he wished the non-gifted members of his family knew how to hold a silent conversation.

She looked over his shoulder as her gaze wandered habitually and froze, making Edward wince as he saw his mother's and Bella's eye contact through the thoughts of the vampire in front of him.

Crap.

"Oh lord," Esme whispered under her breath. Bella was marching over to them and Alice's message was clear: Bella was going to start something. How unattractive.

"Edward," she greeted curtly.

"Bella, Jacob," he replied coolly, shifting so he was partially in front of his tiny mother-figure.

"What are you doing here?" Her and Jacob both crossed their arms at the same time in an eerie mirror image.

"I would have thought that was obvious." He found it easy to be terse with her now; the thought of Bella no longer held any appeal or emotion for him, except maybe a slight twinge of pain for his family or anger now and again.

Jacob's eyes narrowed at his tone.

"Really? That seems like a waste now doesn't it? But I guess you do like to spend your money," she replied snottily. Everybody's eyes, except Bella's, widened. She had never, ever cared about anything like that, even before they had been together. He knew from the slightly smug look on her face that she could tell what he was thinking.

"Well, unlike some people, we're responsible." He looked shortly at Jacob, then back to her. He had heard of the 'bear' sightings all around town and down in the surrounding areas. He also meant it for Bella, in reference to Lyra. "How's Lyra by the way? Or have you even bothered to talk to her since you found your mutt?" he hissed. Jacob's thoughts were getting protective and Esme's were getting worried. She was just as mad at Bella as he was, but didn't want to show it.

"You tell me. You two seem to be awfully friendly."

"Maybe that's because she needs someone, and her best friend wasn't there to do the job."

"Well, if you're mad about that, why don't you tell your bitch of a sister to leave her alone. She'll be safer that way right?" Bella mocked. Now everybody was shocked, even Jacob.

Bella had never been one for language or derision, but here she was, out in public, saying it in front of her boyfriend to her ex-boyfriend and his gentle-as-a-feather mother.

"You should know, you're the masochist." He sneered. Esme's thoughts were half scolding and half worried. She didn't like his language or tone, even though she felt nearly the same way. And they were starting to attract attention.

"Really? What happened to being the stupid little lamb?"

"It's more like the dumb sheep now, since a wolf's come into play."

"Stop it! Both of you!" Esme nearly shouted. Edward was glad too; they had been bickering like children, yet he hadn't wanted to stop. He wanted to make her feel all the pain she had caused him and his family. "You're acting like children. Edward, you shouldn't talk to someone like that and Bella, you have no right to accuse him of anything when you're the one who ruined your relationship with him and us!"

Bella stared, star-eyed shocked, at Esme. She didn't know Esme very much, but she knew that this wasn't like her. The pain and hurt shone brightly in Esme's eyes and she marched away with their shopping cart. Even Jacob looked sympathetic toward Edward's mother.

"I hope you're finally happy," he snapped at her and marched away after his upset mom, leaving Bella behind.

Hopefully, it would be the last time he ever saw her.

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Silence filled the house as everybody listened and watched as Esme deftly put the useless groceries away. They all could tell something was wrong, but only Edward and Alice knew firsthand.

_What happened? Why is Esme so upset?_ Jasper asked him, feeling upset as well because of the heavy waves of distress their mother was radiating.

Edward just nodded his head.

"I'm going hunting. Edward, will you come with me?" Her tone told him it wasn't optional.

They ran 30 miles toward the Canadian border, until Esme finally stopped. She took down two deer and a small black bear before she finally turned to look at him as he watched silently.

"Edward," she started, but he held up his hand. He knew what she was going to say, it was clear as day on her face.

"Esme, wait. I'm sorry I acted the way I did; I know it was inexcusable to say those things and that it embarrassed you in public. It won't happen again. I just…I wanted Bella to know the pain she had caused all of us, because I know it wasn't the only one that was hurt. It killed all of us to see you sad because she left," he explained desperately; Esme was the one person he could not stand to see in any margin of grief.

"I've just never seen you act that way," she breathed sadly. "I know this recent chain of events had changed you, but I never expected that. The worst I've ever heard you say is when you swear at Rosalie under your breath whenever she makes you mad. I understand your feelings, all of us do, and I wish I could do something about it, but putting someone down with harsh words is never the answer." Carlisle's philosophy spewed from her lips as if she were a therapist or counselor for juveniles.

"I don't know what came over me."

"Were you jealous? Of Jacob?" The distaste was obvious in her voice, even though she used his name, which made Edward laugh.

"No, I wasn't. In fact, I'm fairly certain I'm…past this whole thing. Maybe not completely, but mostly. I was blind to the side of Bella that could come out sometimes, the one that would hurt people, intentionally or not. I feel like a fool." The way he had fawned and hovered over her every second they were together…for once he shared Mike Newton's disdain for his previous relationship.

"You're most certainly not a fool Edward, don't ever think that. I just want you to promise me that that was the last time you'll ever speak that way to anyone. No one deserves that, even if someone thinks they do."

"I know. I'm sorry and I promise." He walked over and kissed her cheek. "Anything for you."

She smiled, and suddenly her grin was devious.

"Speaking of girls you know," she started. Oh God. "Lyra seems to be popping up more and more." He groaned and she laughed loudly, teasingly.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?"

"Well darling, she's a girl, you're a boy and you're both spending time with each other. You used to ignore humans as if they were just dust floating by your head. Now all of a sudden you're talking to one that would be irrelevant otherwise. We've all noticed."

"Look Esme," he trailed off for a few seconds, exasperated by his family's nosiness. "You're right, I probably wouldn't be friends with her," Esme's grin widened at the mention of 'friends'. "But I met her through Bella and now Bella is gone, but Lyra needed help. Just because a certain person was out of the picture, doesn't mean I would just completely isolate myself. I couldn't; I couldn't just turn away when she needed my help. Besides, if you want someone to blame, talk to Rosalie. She's the one who started bringing her over."

His mother stared at him, her giant smile downsizing until it was a happy upturn of her lips.

"All right, I won't bug you. We all just want you to be happy Edward. Besides; you've fallen in love with a human before, anything is possible." She brushed by him and touched his shoulder affectionately before running back toward the house.

He waited until he could no longer hear the sounds of her running to follow, so she wouldn't see his uncertain eyes.

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When they arrived home, Edward had nearly an identical conversation with Carlisle. Damn vampire hearing; all of his siblings were teasing him now, though this time around Rosalie wasn't shouting profanities at him in her head.

After an hour of taking crap from his family, he decided to go for a much needed run. It let him get away from his family, and it gave him time to think.

Pretty soon, he found himself sitting by the ponds again.

The thing Edward hated the most about his family was this; sometimes they were just too 'in his business' and he had to take a break. Every time he had tried to have Bella over, his brothers would hoot and holler loud enough for her to hear every time they kissed or something like that. They drove him out of the house at least once or twice a week _at least_, and he wouldn't be able to go back without facing them again.

As he sat there, watching the light reflect off the shimmering water and the skies dimmed, embarrassment filled his thoughts.

All of his family had been pestering him about Lyra this and Lyra that; even humans had started questioning if something was going on between them. Is that what it looked like? He knew he hadn't been that social before and after Bella, but really, it wasn't that big a story. They were friends, so what. He didn't have any feelings for her…right?

Sure, Lyra was extremely smart, talented and was funny without having to make jokes all the time. And it wasn't like he was unaware of her physical attractiveness too; she was beautiful, exotically so, and thanks to all the hormone driven boys at their school, he _had_ noticed how her flowing dresses and pretty skirts accented her shape. But that wasn't the kind of attraction he felt for her. They were friends, at least to him…

Edward fisted his hands in his hair and groaned, tugging on the strands of bronze. Human emotions were something he had discovered again only recently, with Bella, and he was not used to this. All of those feelings had been directed at her, and the ones he was experiencing right now were so different he didn't know _how_ to handle them.

This was where the embarrassment came in; he didn't want people asking him how he felt because he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if he liked her or not, or what was in store for them. All these people asking him questions about it was flustering him, making feel like an awkward teenage boy instead of a seasoned, century-old vampire.

Suddenly he jumped, the vibration from his phone scaring him. He pulled it out to see another text from the girl he was just warring over.

**Skupa, tova ne oznachava, mozhete da go napravite! **…What?

**What? I don't speak Bulgarian. **He replied curiously.

**Oh whoops! Sorry I was supposed to send that to my cousin. I'm surprised you're still up!**

Edward looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was nearly 1 o'clock in the morning.

**I guess I lost track of time,** he replied when he uncurled himself from his fetal position.

**I'd think that's hard to do at 1 am.**

**Yeah. **He replied simply. As he was running, putting himself on auto-pilot, he found himself going not in the direction of home, but toward the girl he was talking to. In a matter of minutes, he was in the same tree as before, out of sight, staring at the balcony off of her room.

Lyra was walking around her room, speaking hurriedly to someone on the phone with an angry look on her face.

"Tryabva da znaete, che ne e nared! Vie ste…"

As she conversed with the person on the other line, he watched her move around. She pressed her lips together when she was mad, and fidgeted with things around her room. Finally she punched the disconnect button and fell down onto her bed as if she were exhausted. He found this interesting.

Sighing, she went over to her desk and typed something into the computer, then grabbed something from the dresser and went off somewhere into the house. He heard the shower start moments later.

Curiosity plagued his mind; he found himself wanting to go look through her window, to see what she was doing on the computer. He wanted to know what she had been saying on the phone, what she said in her text, why she was angry, why she was up so late. Questions that he couldn't ask flooded through his mind and the urge to jump onto her balcony became even greater. He wanted to know _everything_ about her.

Then he realized it was Bella all over again: the nagging questions, confusing emotions, stalker-like tree viewing. Except this time he wanted to know because of _her_; not her blood or silent thoughts. He was intrigued by _her_ and her alone.

And that was how he knew his family was right.

Contrary to what his brothers thought, he wasn't completely clueless when it came to women and attraction. He had never experienced it before Bella, but from all the human and _non_-human thoughts he had heard, he knew what the signs were. And now that they were all staring him in the face, he didn't know what to do. The concept of being with someone, a human, scared him just like it had with Bella. He was a super strong and speedy vampire who could easily kill practically anything on this earth.

As Lyra walked back into her room (in a towel wrapped around her torso, so he averted his eyes), another reason for caution creeped into his mind. One that made these feelings of his nearly invalid.

No matter what she said, she was a European girl that would follow what her parents wanted her to do. She would finish school then probably get married before she was twenty and have some kids. It wasn't in her lifestyle or culture to be with someone like him, an American, even if she was interested. She was dutiful and selfless, so she would please her family before herself, despite their possessive attitude toward her; like she was some kind of property to be owned.

So what was he to do?

The light in his peripheral vision was cut off, so he looked back to see her shifting underneath her quilt, getting comfortable. Concentrating, he listened carefully until her breathing evened out. Then he was on her balcony.

Now he really felt like a peeping tom. With Bella he had been curious, unaware of his feelings, when he had first gone into her room. Now he was looking, eager and excited at the thought of finding out any morsel of information on his new object of concern. Not that his feelings mattered in this case. She could never return them.

But before he could go any further, his damn phone rattled in his pocket. Cursing, he flipped it open to see a message from…Jasper?

**Where are you?**

**Why?** He replied. But after a few minutes of waiting motionlessly, there was no answer.

So he jumped off the little terrace and sped off, his breath hitching as he heard Lyra stir in her room. She was a light sleeper apparently, so he would have to be careful. God, he was sick.

As he was entering the door, Jasper appeared behind him and motioned quietly for Edward to follow. For the third time that day, he ran with someone out of hearing range from his family.

"What?" he asked curtly. He didn't want to be pulled away when he had things to do; like seeing what bookstores in the area had Bulgarian dictionaries.

"I just wanted to ask you something." Jasper stated calmly. Edward asked him 'what' again.

_What's going on with you? Every time I see you, there's confliction in your eyes and uncertainty rolling off you in waves. Alice is getting frustrated with me because you've been affecting me so much._ Then Edward saw that this was mostly for Jasper's benefit, not the genuine concern he had thought it was.

"It's nothing," Edward replied curtly. He didn't want to have this conversation, _again_, with someone who didn't even care.

_Is that annoyance I'm getting?_

"Yes, now get to your point."

_I already did. I'm just curious why you've been such an emotional roller coaster these last few weeks. I heard Esme talking to Carlisle in the study; does it have something to do with the human girl?_

"…Yes," Edward sighed, giving up. "Is that all?"

_I guess. But Edward, please just listen. I know what you're feeling, as you know, so you can always talk to me if you want. I know it's annoying when everybody's always asking you questions, but you're obviously all confused and stuff, so if you want to spill the beans, go ahead._

"I'm fine Jasper."

"That's not what I'm getting from you." His blonde brother countered. "Before tonight you were all mopey and confused…but now you're determined with a little confliction," Jasper explained, like he was a brewer talking about wine flavors.

"I just…" Jasper leaned forward, curiosity getting the best of him. "Before I go on, I feel obligated to inform you that I will kill you like a dog if you ever repeat what I'm going to say." His sibling just smirked at the threat and crossed his arms patiently.

"I went to Lyra's today…and had a little emotional epiphany. I feel like an idiot, but I guess all of you guys were right: I _do_ like her. But I feel weird about it, like I don't know how to handle this, like I don't want to. I've never felt this before." Jasper was still before he answered.

"Edward…I may be wrong, but I think that wrong feeling you have is because of Bella."

"Bella? What does she have to do with this?"

"Edward…I know you're confused, because you were in a relationship with a human, not a vampire, so the principles were different. But Lyra is different than Bella, yet every time you talk about her, you make a comparison. You have to let Bella go; she's not in this anymore. She's the past, and if you want Lyra in your future, you have to forget about her."

They both stood still as Edward absorbed this. Now that he thought about it, that feeling he felt was a different kind of awkwardness than the social kind he had experienced so far. True, the two girls were different, but Bella was the only reference he had, so how could he not make comparisons?

"Oh…I guess that makes sense…" Jasper snorted at his ignorance.

_You have a lot to learn about women my friend. Just take it slow; she'd be pretty stupid to ignore you anyway, so it'll all work out_. Jasper sent waves of confidence around them and Edward laughed.

As they ran back to the house, racing and trying to trip each other, Edward distractedly tried to face the difficult truth, for the second time in his eternal life.

He was falling: _hard_.

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In _Midnight Sun_, Edward felt similar to this when he realized his feelings for Bella, so I thought it would be funny if it happened again. Gosh, he's so clueless!

R&R

-cally (^o^)


	10. We're Connected

**Summary: **Lyra seems to be attracting the affections of all of the Cullen's, including Jasper (not romantically though). How will Edward handle this and how will everything go wrong?

**Rating: **T, for language, bad things (not giving anything away) and a teensy bit of violence.

**Word Count: **~4.4k. I'm just going to give up on making my chapters under 4k…and the little ~ thing means around that number, for those who don't know.

**DISCLAIMER**: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

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Everybody was wide-eyed, staring at the huge TV screen in front of them in horror. The lights were out and it was dark outside, the sun having long gone below the horizon.

"_Every 23rd spring, for 23 days, it gets to...eat_."

"_Eat?_"

"_You know what it eats and don't you make me tell you!_" Patricia Belcher cried.

"Ooo, it's gettin' good!" Emmett squealed; everybody stared at him with curses in their eyes. He was the only one who liked horror movies, and it happened to be his night to pick.

Ever since the first home-ownable movie came out, the Cullens had held family movie nights, at least they tried to. Of course, as the new technology grabbed their attention, these nights had become few and far between. Recently they had decided to renew this tradition. Or rather, everybody but him had wanted to. They all claimed it would make him closer to Lyra, who was huddled up in the chair with her fisted hands in front of her mouth, utterly absorbed.

Jasper just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

They all sat there, flinching and yelling as the god-awful movie _Jeepers Creepers_ played across their 60 inch plasma screen. Carlisle and Esme were having lovey-dovey time somewhere, so it was just them 'kids' and Lyra.

His family's enthusiasm disturbed Edward; he had told one person who couldn't keep a secret (oh, he would so be getting Jasper back for that) and now everybody knew about his confusing feelings for Lyra. So in their feeble attempts to get him to spill his guts to her, they had converted back to nights of watching movies together (he would get Emmett for that too). But with one modification: Lyra.

It was a little unsettling to see his family so interested in his business, especially when he himself hardly knew what it was, but he was happy to see his family slowly bonding with his affection. She had no idea what they were, _who_ they were, but they all enjoyed being around her and vice versa; even Jasper seemed to have taken a liking to her.

Now the problem was figuring out what was going on in _her_ head, and sorting out his own thoughts.

But right then, he was more concerned about her state of mind. Lyra was one who scared easily, from what he gathered when she called him over that first night, and her near-fetal position was worrying him. Of course she wouldn't object to the movie, because it was what her friend wanted to watch, but sometimes she was too brave. Nightmares would probably make her toss and turn all night.

A particularly gory scene came on and he cringed, as well as Lyra and Rosalie. Alice had seen it coming and was covering her eyes using Jasper's shoulder. His two brothers were the only ones laughing at the blood.

"This is disgusting." Edward stated numbly. He had seen worse, and had _been_ worse, so it didn't really affect him, but it was certainly affecting all the girls.

"This is awesome!" Emmett guffawed.

Edward crossed his arms and continued watching, looking at Lyra every few minutes to see how she was doing. Her thoughts were scared but she was trying to be brave, to tough it out.

Then, as he was staring at her fists, wanting to uncurl them and make it so she wasn't scared, she looked up and met his eyes.

It wasn't like one of those movie moments, were everything happens in slow motion and there's an instant love-at-first-site connection, but the moment she averted her eyes, her cheeks blushed and he decided it was fair to have hope. There could be something there…

As the horribly grotesque movie continued, Edward met her glances a few more times, smiling then smirking as she looked away. Jasper seemed to be aware of his mood, but tried to concentrate on the movie instead.

The credits finally rolled and he jumped up, turning on the lights. Everybody breathed, like they had been entranced and stretched, Lyra uncurling from her ball.

"I'm siding with Edward, that was gross," she complained, flexing her legs to get the stiffness out.

"Too bad, it was my night to pick," Emmett stuck out his tongue childishly and Lyra mirrored him. It was cute when _she_ did it.

"I'm thinking Lyra should pick a movie next time," Jasper said. They all stopped to stare at him; even if he did like Lyra, he had never really been one to talk around anybody but his family.

"Sure," Lyra shrugged casually, but everybody could see her beaming at the thought of being 'officially accepted' into their little group. Edward snorted at the thought.

Lyra hopped up and accepted the water Alice handed her. Since the movie was over and there was still a good hour until she had to go home, Rosalie and Alice whisked her away upstairs. After putting the movies away Edward went up to his own room and took out his newly purchased Bulgarian dictionary. He had been working on learning it and on deciphering whatever she had been saying that night on the phone.

He knew it was an invasion of privacy, but he _had_ to know. His burning desire was killing him. All of a sudden, he wanted to know everything about her language, her culture, the country itself. Before, Edward had just learned languages because they would be useful at some point, like French and Spanish. Italian for the Volturi and Russian for Alaska, when they stayed there. But now, he was learning it because he _had_ too, or at least he felt like he did.

Footsteps rushed up the stairs toward his room and Edward set the heavy book aside to open the door. Emmett came flying through.

"What's got you so excited?"

"I'm bored, wanna play some football with me, Jazz and Carlisle?"

"No, I'm a little busy."

"With what? Fawning over your precious little human girl? Are you _finally_ gonna ask her out?"

"No!" Edward replied automatically, flustered at the thought. He had a problem with words, awkwardness and incoherency when he was around her; the thought of asking her on a date was terrifying.

"Okay, okay, whatever. We'll be at Rainier Field if you wanna join." Emmett was leaving but as he turned, he spied the dictionary on Edward's table. "You didn't."

"I was curious," the seventeen year old defended. It was embarrassing to be caught in the act of language-stalking a girl who was just down the hall.

"Oh my God!" Emmett bellowed and grabbed his stomach. Good thing he didn't need to breath; he would have died from lack of oxygen he laughed so hard. On second thought, Edward wished he _did _need to breath.

"Shut up," he muttered and grabbed the book of the tabletop, shooing his brother out of his room. As the door shut, he heard Rosalie and Alice saying goodbye to Lyra. Not moments later, Alice was outside his room.

"It's time to bring Lyra home. I'm guessing you want to do the honors." She dangled his keys in his face and he snatched them out of her hand, growling and giving her a dirty look. She poked her tongue out at him and laughed, skipping to the door before him.

As he made his way down the stairs, Lyra looked up from putting on her thin jacket and blushed when she saw the keys in his hand. Rosalie giggled quietly at her embarrassment.

"Rose is working on my car, so Edward will drive you home," Alice lied. The yellow Porsche he had gotten for her as a present was sitting perfectly fine in the garage.

"All right," Lyra said softly and walked through the door as he opened it for her. Rose and Alice laughed so Lyra wouldn't hear and he turned to scowl at them.

"Have fun," Alice chimed suggestively and then they were out of sight.

It took 15 minutes to get to Lyra's house; she had noticed his attraction to speed and freaked out at him to slow down. Since she wasn't exactly aware of what he was, and how unlikely it was that they would crash or even get caught, he slowed down so he was ten miles above the speed limit.

"I've driven like that with you in the car before you know."

"Yeah, well I didn't notice it then," she chided.

They arrived at her house and _finally_ a girl waited for him to open their car door before they got out. Whenever he had tried to be chivalrous with Esme or Rosalie, when they were first turned, they either turned it down or shooed him away, Rose not being very nice about it. But Lyra just smiled hugely and watched him as he made his way around the car at a human speed. He gave her a little mock bow as he opened her door.

As she took his hand they both looked at her fingers intertwined with his. A strange thrill ran through him at her touch; not like the electricity that had buzzed in the air when he was with Bella, but something that made him feel more…connected to her.

"Thank you for driving me home," she whispered, her pink face looking down at the ground. His hopes soared at that, and suddenly he was confident in his plan to ask her for a date. Just not tonight…

"You're welcome." He replied. "You'd better get inside; it's late. I think I can see your mother waiting for you," he joked, even though her parents _had_ noticed the headlights of his car flash through their windows.

"Yeah, I'll see you later. Tell your siblings I had fun." He nodded and she walked off, her heels clicking on the pebbled concrete of her driveway. His eyes were drawn to how she walked, how it made her hair sway and how her dress fluttered with the wind…

He waited until she was inside before he flashed around into the driver's seat and drove home, more ecstatic than ever.

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Later that night, as Edward was duteously studying to up his Bulgarian skills, Jasper's thoughts caught his attention.

_I wonder why we're all so drawn to her…it's strange, vampires being friends with a human. I feel so…connected to her. Is that weird? I've never felt this way before but then again I've never really had a _friend_ before either…_ his thoughts trailed off into his inner musings, like usual.

Edward frowned at Jasper's speculations. Lately, he hadn't really been paying attention to his family's thoughts that much. How many other things had he missed? Nobody else in the house was thinking of the human girl, so why was Jasper?

"Jasper," he called out softly. Immediately, his honey blonde brother was leaning against the open door frame.

"I assumed you heard that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"…You're not mad…" Jasper concluded, tasting the atmosphere with his ability.

"No, I'm not mad. Just curious." Edward tilted his head and smiled a bit, showing he had no ill intentions. Jasper's eyes widened the tiniest bit and then he chuckled into his hand.

_I'm surprised. With Bella, if any of us even when near her you went batshit crazy. What's different about Lyra? _

"You tell me." Edward replied. He had called Jasper here, so he was going to get answered first.

_I don't know. None of us do really. She's like a magnet; she pulls people in. There's just something about her personality, her emotions. I guess that's it: I feel…_connected _to her because she's more in touch with her emotions than most humans. More controlled too. _He felt very relieved about that part in particular.

"Yes, I can understand that." He snickered as Emmett's loud and annoyed thoughts punched into his head; he could tell they were having one of their silent conversations.

"I can see that," Jasper nodded to the dictionary in Edward's lap. "You seem awfully intrigued by her."

"I don't know how to explain it…this whole thing is different than it was with Bella, but I can't exactly pinpoint how."

"Well, when you figure it out, let me know." Jasper turned and left, ending their little chit chat, leaving his brother to his own devices.

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It had been three days since the movie night and Edward was starting to get worried. He had texted and called Lyra at least ten times, each getting more anxious than the next. Alice and Jasper had both decided to go off on a little love trip to Vegas the night before, so Alice wasn't available to tell him what was going on. Neither of them were answering their phones.

Edward was sorely tempted to go to her house and check, to make sure she was all right. Carlisle and Esme had talked him out of it, saying that if she wanted to talk she would and that it had only been a few days. Emmett had told him to chill out, since Lyra wasn't a 'vampire stalker that didn't need sleep', so she wasn't bound to be concerned about him all the time.

That just made it worse. This urge to go run to her became stronger than it ever had been when he was with Bella. He was protective of Lyra, since she was damaged so much already. She had told him, perhaps not verbally, but physically, that she was afraid to be alone. Memories haunted her that she couldn't get rid of, and he didn't want her to suffer through those or anything like them ever again.

So on the fourth day, and still no answer, he finally decided to leave and check. He would come back feeling like an idiot.

He made it to her house in five minutes, going 110 mph the whole time, nervousness overtaking him. Could vampires have anxiety attacks? It felt like he would. He couldn't lose the girl he liked, loved, whatever, a second time. Once was more than enough.

When he saw that there were cars in her driveway he slowed down and quickly parked, hoping out and running at a human speed, in case of neighbors, to the door.

It was her brother who answered, surprise on his face when he saw the boy on his doorstep.

"Oh. Hey; it's Edward right?" he asked, pointy his finger at him. His accent wasn't nearly as heavy as the rest of his family's were.

"Yes. I'm looking for Lyra, is she here?" Thankfully he kept the panic out of his voice.

"Oh, she didn't tell you? Well, I guess she didn't have time to; our mom yanked her off to some Russian ladies etiquette retreat to help her teach all the young chicks how to be girls and stuff. I've tried to call her but they get horrible service out there." Oh. Well, he felt stupid.

"Then where's her car?"

"Our mom tends to overcompensate. She thought it would be 'fun' to haul half her closet with her and the whole grocery store too, so Elyria had to drive herself. They should be back in three or four days."

"…Who?" Edward asked, confused.

"Elyria," her brother replied slowly, like it was obvious. "Lyra is just her nickname. Her full name is Elyria."

"Oh…" she had never mentioned that either. "Thanks. Well…I guess I should be going then." He excused himself and apologized to the boy for his interruption, heading back to his car. As he drove he thought about this new piece of information.

Elyria. That was a very odd name. It had a certain ring to it, and the more he thought about it, the more beautiful it became. It was unique, even for a European name, a foreign one. He liked it, and would be certain to call her that, just to see her reaction.

As he drove home, he smiled happily as he imagined what her face would look like.

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But as the days wore on, and Lyra's return date passed, there was nothing. Three days turned to five, five turned to eight. Alice and Jasper still weren't home and still couldn't be reached so he was on his own. Even Esme and Rosalie were starting to worry.

"Maybe she got held up at that camp or something?" Rosalie offered unconvincingly.

"I doubt it. I think something's wrong, this can't be right. I've tried to reach her and her parents through the house phone, but nobody is answering."

"If you're so worried, go check it out again. I'm surprised you've lasted this long," Emmett teased. Edward bit his tongue, not wanting to make Rosalie or Esme even more upset.

"Fine," he hissed and grabbed his keys.

The same as last time, within minutes he was parked at Lyra's house. But something was different; as he drove up, there was a kind of thickness in the air, a tension. It seemed to envelop the whole neighborhood.

Edward got out of his car and quietly shut the door, not wanting to send a loud noise into this quiet abyss of houses. He made his way to the door and was about to ring the bell when he heard someone inside talking.

"What are we going to do?" the voice was deep but familiar; probably Lyra's father.

"I'm so sorry. There was nothing we could do," said a different voice.

"How could you let this happen?" a younger voice shouted and Edward heard the sounds of a racing heartbeat and clothes ruffling, like the angry voice had shoved someone else. It sounded like her brother.

"I'm sorry!" her mother shouted. "How could I have known this would happen? It wasn't my fault!" Edward was confused now; what wasn't her fault? What was going on?

"Yes it is! If you hadn't had to bring all your stupid clothes Lyra would have been in the same car as you and she wouldn't have died in that crash!"

At those words, Edward froze, his hand bending the doorknob into a scrunched up ball.

Died? Who? Lyra? No, that couldn't possibly be right! She had been with her mother…

But then he remembered her brother's words.

"_Elyria had to drive herself…_"

"…_Lyra would have been in the same car…_"

She hadn't been heard from for over a week, everybody was upset, there was a medical guy there…this wasn't a joke.

It was all making sense. It was all making horrible, horrible sense. Lyra was…dead?

Lyra was dead.

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Black and white surrounded him. It was all he saw; the color was leached from everything as he drove around the city aimlessly. Even though it was probably one in the morning, he still only saw black and white. Nothing, everything colorless.

Matching his broken heart.

He was a fool. He should have never gotten involved with her! Humans were fragile, extremely so, he knew from experience. How could he have been so stupid?

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he knew who it was. Probably Esme or Carlisle, calling to see where he was. They didn't like him staying out late.

For once, as he drove down his long driveway and the giant house loomed into view, Edward did not feel the release he usually did. This was supposed to be a place where they didn't have to hide, to keep up their human façades, but now he didn't really care either way.

The voices of his family conversing reached his ears as he parked and walked up the steps to the doors.

_Why's he so slow?_ Emmett thought grumpily. He was angry, irritated over something, but Edward didn't care about what.

_Where has he been?_ Esme thought, her motherly tone leaking into her mental voice. This made Edward vaguely wonder what Jasper would be thinking, or feeling, in this situation.

Finally he made it through the door and Esme rounded the kitchen corner to scold him for being back so late when she saw his face.

"Edward…honey, what's wrong?" All the voices stopped and everybody came to look at him as he dropped his keys in the bowl and put his jacket on the coat hanger.

Walking past all his family members, he went straight to the couch and slouched back into the squishy leather cushions.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, strong worry in his voice.

_Is he going into shock? He seems like he is…I can't tell…can vampires even go into shock?_

Edward just shook his head at his father. Carlisle sat down and put his hand on his son's arm.

"Son, what's wrong?" They all leaned in like he had gossip to share. They probably thought it was some trivial drama. Emmett in particular thought Lyra had rejected him and he was moping. Boy was he wrong.

"I went to Lyra's house and someone was there." They waited. "He said…he said…". Bending over, he braced himself on his knees and rubbed his eyes. How he wished he could cry.

"Darling it's okay," Esme rubbed his shoulder soothingly, guessing the same as Emmett now. He smacked her hand away harshly, standing up and glaring at them all.

"No it's not! Don't you get it? She's dead! Lyra. Is. Dead!" He stormed up to his room, leaving his shocked family to wallow in their thoughts.

_Dead? No…no, she can't be! This can't happen again, not to Edward!_ Esme was thinking.

_Oh God…_, where his brother and father's synchronized thoughts. Only Rosalie was thinking close to the same things as him.

_No, no, no! Not her! She was the one human who didn't deserve this! There must be some mistake, there has to be!_

How he wished she were right.

Through Rosalie's eyes, he could see them all look at each other, some sad and some confused. They were all contemplating whether or not they should go up and console him. He growled in warning; it seemed he no longer had control over his actions or his emotions. He was suddenly glad Jasper wasn't here; he wouldn't like to think of what would happen when Jasper was affected by his raging emotions.

In the far corner of his room, he curled up and hugged his knees close to his chest. It was like Bella all over again, except this time, he felt completely empty.

He had still had room in his heart for someone after Bella left, even though he had doubted it would ever happen. Then Lyra had waltzed into his lived and everything became centered around her; even his family was focused on her whenever she was around!

So this time, when he lost the one he loved, it hurt a hundred times more than Bella. Alice had been right, that night at the ponds. When Bella left, it proved there was something better out there and he had finally found it, just to have it taken away. He hadn't even known her all that well, and she didn't really know him, yet it hurt worse than when Bella ran out of his life.

Now he was an empty void, his hard skin the shell of the person that was once there.

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Jasper and Alice returned a few days later. Alice had collapsed into Rosalie as they mourned the loss of their friend and Jasper had just stood there, utterly surprised. For all of them, the one human they had actually befriended was gone.

Carlisle had tried to console them all, even though he was saddened too. He had said that all humans died, because their lives were so short.

Edward had never harbored any violent urges towards any of his family, save Rosalie and when he was first turned, but right then he wanted to smack his father clear across the room. Yes, all humans died, but Lyra was different and it hadn't been her time. She had been seventeen for God's sake! Her life had been filled with pain and horrible things, then when it's all starting to turn around for the better, she dies? It wasn't fair!

Sensing his foul mood, Jasper suggested they all give him some alone time. Save Carlisle, who went back to work, they all went hunting and went to play some baseball in Rainier Field. It was a wise decision.

His family only came back twice, to get some fresh clothes. They had run far into Canada, busying themselves to give him some time to gather his thoughts and emotions. Carlisle came in, went to find his family, then came back to go to work at the hospital.

One the fourth day of being alone, Edward decided he would have to hunt if he were to be presentable when his family got home. He went out for a quick run, not far from home and drained three deer and a small bear before he was satisfied. He may have taken some of his anger out on the poor animals and had to rinse his hands in the river flowing through their yard before he went bad inside.

But as he walked through the door, he could tell something was off.

"Guys?" he called. Perhaps his family had come home. There was no answer.

Now wary, Edward slowly walked around the kitchen corner into the living room. There was nothing there.

Then his nose picked up a scent that was strange, unfamiliar, yet distinctive.

He turned around and stared into a pair of glowing crimson eyes.

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Muah hahahahaha! What will happen next? And please_, __**if you have any idea, don't say it in a review where others can see it, if you're dying to know or want your suspicions verified, PM me and don't ruin it for others!**_ There are so many possibilities, I want people to be in suspense, hence the cliffhanger.

And yes, I know Edward gives Alice the Porsche in _Eclipse_, but this follows a different story line remember? And the Cullen's house is different in my mind than in the movies, in case you were getting confused by the lay out I've been describing…

The little Jasper bit was for you, hitorijinsei3! I tried…

By the way, if any of you don't know what _Jeepers Creepers_ is, don't go watch it. It's disgusting and really bad…God, that was 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back…

R&R

-cally (^o^)


	11. Unfortunate Situation

**Summary**: Edward gets thrown around a bit by the mysterious vampire. Who will it be and why are they there?

**Rating**: T, for descriptions of violence, actual violence and language.

**Word Count**: 3.8k, finally I got a chapter under 4k! :D

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight; God, I'm getting sick of these things!

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**Recap: **

…_As he walked through the door, he could tell something was off. _

"_Guys?" he called. Perhaps his family had come home. There was no answer. _

_Now wary, Edward slowly walked around the kitchen corner into the living room. There was nothing there._

_Then his nose picked up a scent that was strange, unfamiliar, yet distinctive._

_He turned around and stared into a pair of glowing blood-red eyes._

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Before Edward could even move the tiniest fraction of an inch, he found himself being picked up and thrown through the back wall of glass. He sailed over the porch railing and made a dent the shape of his body in the middle of their yard. Shattered glass clung to his ripped clothes and was scattered all around him.

Then a form blurred down the porch steps and picked him up again, throwing him against a tree, sending it and him booming to the ground. As he propped himself up, the figure disappeared and he looked at the sharp edges of wood sticking up from the broken tree trunk. Who the hell was this person? Or _vampire_, rather?

"Who are you?" he said loudly. "I don't want to fight, I just want to talk."

Instead of quitting it's attack, the white blur brushed past him, grabbing his shirt and flinging him over its head. But this time he landed on his feet and grabbed his assailants arm, flipping them over so he was holding them by the throat.

His whole body froze as he stared into the hatred filled eyes below him, surrounded by flowing black hair.

"Lyra?" he gasped is disbelief. It couldn't be…

In answer, she kneed him the stomach and shoved him off, sending him flying back twenty feet. He was on his feet at the same time she was, and found her growling and snarling at him.

"Lyra, calm down."

"CALM DOWN?" she shrieked at him. "How the hell am I supposed to calm down? What the hell did you do to me?" she wailed and flung herself at him. Her thoughts were hurt and angry, not murderous, so he let her tackle him.

"What the hell am I? What are you?" she yelled in his face; she would be crying if she were able. Her voice shook with fear and desperation.

"I will tell you _everything_ you want to know, but you have to settle down first. There's no other way." He spoke slowly and sternly, trying to calm her down. Lips curled back in a snarl, she stared at him for several seconds before lurching off of him and standing fifteen feet away. Fear colored her crimson eyes as she hunched her shoulders protectively.

"All right." He dusted himself off as he got up. She flinched when he moved. "You're very sensitive right now, so just try to take it easy. You're stronger, faster and you're emotions have been heightened."

"Why?" she whispered.

"Lyra…you've noticed my family and me are different right?" He would start out simple and lead her to it, if he could.

"Of course I have, everybody in this town can see that." She hissed. He held up his hand, showing he didn't mean to offend her.

"Well…there's a reason for that. We're not normal. We're not…human." She stared at him, urging him to go on.

"Just tell me what the hell has happened to me!" she screamed.

"You're a vampire!" he blurted out angrily. He was just trying to help for God's sake! Looking at her, he backed up a few steps when he saw the half confused, half incredulous expression on her face.

"A vampire. Really." Great, she didn't believe him. Now he really wished Carlisle were here. She started stomping off. "I'm going to the police. You people are freaks, you did something to me and I will figure it out!"

"Lyra, what do you hear?" he asked. She stopped and turned her head slightly toward him. "Listen." Her eyes widened when she stopped growling and stood still, then narrowed as she faced him again.

"Cars and birds."

"Yeah. Those cars you are hearing are on the freeway, nine miles from here. It's the closest road that has cars on it right now. And those birds? The closest one is half a mile away. Humans wouldn't be able to hear any of those things."

"You're lying."

"Lyra, even the strongest steroids couldn't do this to you." He waved his hand at her new body. "Watch." He turned and sprang 50 feet, up and over the river, then ripped off a huge root and threw it across the yard, where it landed with a thud next to the broken tree stump. She stared at him wide eyed as he jumped back to where he was seconds before.

"You see. Lyra, I know it's hard to believe; when I was turned, I was on the verge of death and when I woke up, it seemed like I was in a different place because of all my new abilities. You're very different now; you live in a new world."

"Oh my God…" she cried silently and covered her mouth with her hand. She turned around and starting walking aimlessly, like she was in shock. "Tozi chovek…" she mumbled. Edward knew from his recent studying this meant 'that man', which didn't sound good.

"What man?" he asked. She seemed too distracted to notice he shouldn't know that because she hadn't translated.

"I…" she whispered and covered her eyes with her hands this time, her shoulders bobbing as she sobbed. In her mind, she recalled a man coming toward her, asking if she was all right. In that moment, she had lost all control. The smell of his blood had been so strong…

"You killed him." He alleged, but not harshly. They had all been there, or at least most of them. As he walked over toward her, she let him take her into his arms. He rocked them back and forth for a few minutes before he heard a car pulling onto the start of their long drive way. Carlisle's thoughts invaded his mind.

_I hope he's feeling better. He needs to get out of the house, have a little fun. He can't keep focusing on this or he will definitely go to the Volturi…_

Oh, how wrong he was.

"Wait here." At his words, she stiffened in his hug, noticing the car. "Don't worry; it's just Carlisle, he won't hurt you. I'll tell him you're here, he'll know what to do." Nodding mutely, she went over and sat on one of the boulders next the stream, completely motionless. As Carlisle pulled into the garage, Edward noticed that Lyra's shoes were missing and her skirt and shirt were all dirty, with rips in places. That wasn't a good sign.

As Carlisle got out of his car, Edward stepped through the gaping hole in the glass wall and met his father at the garage door into the house.

"Edward, you're out," he greeted him happily. But when he saw Edward's solemn look, his face fell and he instantly started worrying about his son. "What's wrong?" A hand was put on his shoulder.

"Carlisle, it's Lyra." His father's face fell and he sighed knowingly.

"Edward, I know you're grieving, we all are but-"

"No, it's not that. It's not that at all." Carlisle's face and thoughts were now confused. "Come here." Edward lead him to the broken window, which confused his father even more, and pointed to the river, were Lyra sat on the rock unmoving.

"Oh my God! She's alive! That's wonderful!" Carlisle exclaimed.

"Look closer." He stared at him for a second and then looked back at the girl, his face falling when he noticed her stillness, her pale skin…

"Oh no…"

"Yeah. I came back from hunting and she attacked me." At the word 'attack', Lyra's head tilted in his direction and Carlisle gasped.

"How did this happen? She was here when you got home?"

"Yes…I don't know who did this, but Carlisle…she's killed someone and isn't in the best state." His father nodded when he noticed her ruined clothes. "I think it's best if you talk to her…I told her what she is, and that everything will be fine, but I don't know what to say without upsetting her…"

"Don't worry, I'll do it." Carlisle set down his briefcase and stepped through the hole in the window, slowly making his way down the porch steps and toward Lyra. He stopped twenty feet away, cautious, just like he was with Edward when he first woke up.

"Lyra?" Instantly, she was standing and looking at Edward over Carlisle's shoulder. She was frightened; her thoughts went to the man she had killed. She was afraid they would hurt her because she had killed someone.

As reassurance, Edward went to stand by his father as he talked, smiling at Lyra.

"You must be very confused," Carlisle said and she nodded her head quickly. "It's all right; Edward told me all that's happened to you, and we won't hurt you. We'll explain everything, just come inside so you can sit down." Edward gave her an encouraging look as Carlisle gestured to the house.

Lyra reluctantly agreed and walked over, grabbing Edward's arm. She was very frightened and suspicious, her head jerking around at every little sound.

"It's all right," Edward whispered to her as they walked up the porch steps. She nervously chewed on her lip. They sat down and Lyra spoke again.

"So…I'm a vampire…"

"Yes. All of us Cullens are."

"How? I mean…how can vampires even exist?" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air helplessly.

"I'm not exactly sure how the first vampire was created, but the oldest vampire still in existence was turned around three thousand years ago. Ever since then, only a few hundred, maybe a thousand, vampires have been created. I created most of my family, and now we move from city to city to avoid suspicion, because we don't age."

"We don't age?"

"No; whatever age you are turned at, you look that way forever." Lyra pondered this before her next question. How Carlisle could stay so calm, and keep Lyra calm as well, was beyond him.

"Is there anything else I should know about? I know we are strong and fast and drink blood…"

"Actually, our family call ourselves vegetarians." Carlisle interrupted her. A confused look covered her face. "We don't feed the natural way, the intended way, but other than that, yes, you've got it right." He seemed pleased when she agreed to their lifestyle, without hesitation or objection. Probably because she already knew the guilt that would accompany taking a human's life, if she even understood what he meant by 'the natural way'.

"We also can't go out into the sun." Edward added. She looked at him questioningly.

"Is that why you guys always skipped school when it was sunny? Does it hurt us?"

"Yes to your first question and no to the second. It doesn't hurt us, but people would know we're different if they saw us. Our skin sparkles." To his surprise, and Carlisle's, she started giggling. "What?"

"Our skin…sparkles? That's so…weird. And funny." She laughed. Her voice was even more beautiful now.

"Yes, well, it may be amusing, but under no circumstances can you ever let a human see you like that. Granted most don't know about the supernatural, but our skin is a marker of our kind." Carlisle explained firmly. She nodded seriously.

"Another thing is-" he started, but in that second, Lyra's eyes widened and she flung herself across the room, breathing hard, her lips curling back.

"What?"

"Someone's coming," she hissed. Carlisle and Edward had to wait a minute before they could hear the footsteps of their returning family that Lyra's newborn ears had detected.

"I'll go warn them; it's best you stay with her," Carlisle instructed and proceeded to intercept their family.

"Lyra, calm down. None of them will hurt you, I promise." Her defensive posture relaxed, but she stood there stiffly, waiting. "Alice and Rosalie may be a little overjoyed to see you, so please try to behave." At his words, she looked at him and smiled the tiniest bit.

Eventually, after a few minutes of running and Carlisle explaining, Emmett ran up the steps and looked at Lyra incredulously.

"Oh my God, it's true!" he muttered and walked right up to her. She flinched and recoiled before waving shyly to Edward's siblings. They all waved back, stunned.

"Lyra…" Rosalie whispered and the two girls hugged like they hadn't seen each other in years, Lyra smiling apologetically when she squeezed her friend too tightly. "How…why…" None of them could speak quite yet, or voice their thoughts.

"Guys, just give her some space," Jasper warned. They all stepped back, except for Edward. She stayed within inches of him, her hands grasping her shoulders protectively.

"How did this happen?" Esme asked, grabbing Carlisle's hand. They all turned back to Lyra.

"I was driving back…" she started, squinting her eyes like she was trying to remember the sequence of events that night. "My mom made me stay behind at the camp for a few days, because she wanted to get home early for church stuff. It was a three hour drive…I got tired so I pulled over and took a nap. When I woke up I wasn't as tired, but I wanted to sleep, so I wasn't paying attention to the road. I saw something in my mirror, but then my car stopped, even though the wheels kept on going.

"I looked back and there was this woman staring at me. She was bent down, and I guess she was the one holding my car there. The second I moved, she was at my side of the car and ripped the door off. There was no one else on the road, so nobody saw…

"I ran away, toward the woods. It was stupid, but there was nowhere else to go. She followed me and let me run, smiling the whole time. Her eyes were really dark, but whenever the light hit them there was a red tint.

"I kicked off my shoes and ran as fast as I could, but after a few minutes I was tired and she caught me. She bit my neck and it hurt a lot, like I was on fire. But then she stopped and looked around, like she heard something, and ran away. After that…" she trailed off and looked down, remembering the searing pain the transformation brought. It was then Edward noticed the faint crescent scar on her neck.

"When I opened my eyes, everything was different. Everything was bright, but it was night out. There were sounds everywhere; birds and stuff. I went back to the road and found my car flipped over and all banged up. If someone had crashed like that, they wouldn't have survived, but I don't remember doing that. The windows were all shattered, but the glass was gone, like somebody cleaned it up. There was CAUTION tape everywhere, so I guess someone found my car. Maybe that's why she left…"

"Lyra, do you remember what this woman looked like?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah. She was really pale and skinny, with dark red eyes. And really bright red hair." They all froze when she mentioned the red hair.

"Did she say anything to you?"

"She did…but it was like she was talking to herself, so I didn't catch it all."

"What did she say?"

"Uh…" Lyra's eyes squinted as she tried to recall it. "Something like she was 'surprised that he moved on so fast'. It didn't make sense, yet she knew my name…" everybody looked at Edward, their faces grim.

"Victoria." Emmett said, growl in his voice. "That bitch…"

"Wait," Lyra stopped them. "Who's Victoria? You know who did this?"

"We can't be completely positive, but your description sounds like someone we know. Her mate tried to kill Bella when her and Edward were together. Edward killed James, her boyfriend, so she was after Bella. She must have noticed they split up, and thought Lyra took Bella's place."

"Wait a minute, Bella knew about you guys?" Lyra asked in disbelief.

"Well, she figured it out, then asked and I told her she was right," Edward explained, trying to block the angry thoughts the memory brought back in Rosalie.

"Oh…is that why she left?" The thought that Bella left because of him and what they were brought an unexpected prick of pain to his heart.

"No," he got out, gritting his teeth. "That's another story." Lyra could tell that he was angry, and didn't push. "But first things first; you're probably thirsty again and we need you to start feeding on animals."

"Yes, that seems like a good idea. We need to get the memory of human blood out of your mind," Carlisle agreed.

"Wait, she killed someone?" The rest of their family, save Jasper, asked almost in unison. Lyra looked away, ashamed of herself.

"Yes, and she already feels guilty enough so leave her alone," Jasper ordered the rest of the family. Lyra smiled at him, grateful that he was sticking up for her.

"Jasper, do you mind going with her to hunt?" Edward asked. He didn't want to say 'going with us', in fear that she didn't want him to go too.

"Aren't you coming too?" she asked, and he nodded. Even in this ghastly situation, his family still noticed their 'cute awkwardness' with each other. He scowled at Esme as she smiled.

"Emmett, you should probably go too," Carlisle added. _In case she gets out of control…_he added in his thoughts.

"Rosalie, why don't you come instead." Edward asked when Lyra flinched. In her mind, she was uneasy, though she didn't know why. He could tell it was because she didn't want to be surrounded by men who might have to restrain her, even though she wasn't conscience of that fact herself.

Emmett looked confused but just nodded when Rosalie touched his shoulder.

Then they were flying off through the woods, trying to keep up as Lyra sped ahead of them. She looked back and smiled at Edward as he was the closest one to her. Slowing down, she kept pace with them.

"Stop," Edward called and they all gathered around. "Now Lyra, what do you hear?" he asked for the second time that evening.

"I hear…a pounding sound…" Her nostrils flared and instantly she was off in the direction of the deer Edward had smelled. Him and his family followed and found her hungrily draining the flailing animal. She sat back on her heels when she was done, staring at the dead thing in front of her.

"I killed it," she whispered, looking sad that she had killed a defenseless little animal, instinctually.

"I know it's hard to do, but it's better than killing humans," Rose chimed in. Women were more susceptible to feeling bad when they killed an animal and Rose understood.

"I have to do this all the time?" Lyra whined.

"If you want to stay in this family, then yes. Trust me, I know how tempting it is just go with your instinct and prey on humans, but if you do that, then you will eventually lose your humanity and you don't want that to happen. This is the best way; killing animals is better than taking human life." Jasper explained. He was thinking of all the humans he had killed, their emotions as he did. Edward cringed, glad Lyra wasn't the mind reader; he didn't want to think about what those memories would do to her control.

Which got him thinking…did she have a gift?

As they helped her hunt more, Jasper and Edward turning away awkwardly when an elk tore her shirt with its hoof, Edward pondered this idea. Her thoughts always had been quiet, not completely gone, but he still hadn't met another human like that before. Besides Charlie, everybody's thoughts had always been out on open display for him to see; the good, the bad and the ugly.

And other than her strange scent when she had been human, that was the only thing he could think of that might give her a power, though he didn't know how it would. He wished Eleazar was here.

Then he froze. Alaska…the white and black blur Alice had seen in her vision…

"Edward! Look I did it!" Lyra beamed as she stood up from the second elk she had killed, this time without ripping any of her clothes.

"Good job. Now we just have to teach you how to hunt lions and bears." He teased. She was full now, so they would do it later.

"Lions? Are we going to Africa?" she asked quizzically. Jasper chuckled and told her he meant mountain lions. She looked like she would have blushed at her ignorance if she could. "Oh…"

"Let's get back. I'm sure the rest are worried enough without us being gone for hours."

This time, they raced back, but it was more of a competition between Jasper, Rosalie and Edward, since Lyra beat them all anyway. But she stopped when at the river's edge when the rest of them jumped over it.

"What's wrong?" Edward called when she looked down at the rushing water.

"Um…"

"It's easy," he explained, guessing her worry. "Just step back a bit and jump." She looked at him uncertainly, then took a few steps back and jumped, sailing over his head and onto the roof of the house. She whirled around and laughed, jumping up and down like an excited kid when she saw how far she had gone.

"Can I do it again?"

"Sure, but I think Esme would appreciate it if you came down first, so you don't break the roof pushing off."

So for the next fifteen minutes, Lyra was jumping back and forth, from the tree branches on one side of the river, to the roof on the other.

She may have been freaked out before, but now he could tell she was enjoying it, granted she wasn't thinking about all the bad things being a vampire entailed.

Now he just had to figure out if she was gifted or not, something not easily done.

Suddenly he found himself wanting to go to Alaska, for more reasons than one.

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Damn bipolar vampires. Did anybody else notice that they were all like that in the book? Happy then mad a minute later?

So yes, there was a lot of development in this chapter. It's finally getting to the good stuff! I know everything happened kind of fast in the last chapter, this one is the reason why.

R&R

-cally (^o^)

**P.S- **Okay so for the past 4 days I have been reading a story and let me tell you, if you are a Twilight fan, YOU HAVE TO READ IT! I don't care if I'm not supposed to be 'advertising' other author's works, but it's just awesome to ignore. It's called The Puppet Master by A Glitch In the System, you should all go read it, not like she needs anymore reviews thought, she already has nearly 5k, so that should hint that it's a pretty extraordinary story! GO CHECK IT OUT! :D


	12. Forgotten

**Summary**: The Cullens try to ease Lyra into their life as they wait out all the suspicions around her death. They go back to Lyra's house and Lyra finds something she didn't expect. This is pretty much just a filler chapter.

**Rating**: K+, nothing bad happens this time.

**Word Count**: Almost 3.7k, this chapter was mostly filler so it's shorter than the others. The next chapter makes up for the missing length though :D

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.

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It was amazing how fast eight vampires could pack up a house. All members of the Cullen clan had spent a half an hour boxing things up and packing things away, all except the TV, some movies and some books. They were done in 30 minutes, leaving nothing else to do. Which led to worry.

Everybody was confused why Victoria had changed Lyra, or how she even knew Bella was out of the picture, but they were happy they had a new member of the family. Rosalie and Alice were ecstatic that their best friend would now be with them and Esme was glad that Edward finally had a chance to find love, though that probably wouldn't be happening with Lyra anytime soon in her condition.

But on the other hand, the moment Carlisle had come back from the hospital, he had told them that people were getting suspicious of something. Apparently, the morgue had never gotten Lyra's body when they were told they were going to, so people were starting to think someone had taken it, or that there was some conspiracy going on.

Because of this, they couldn't leave town immediately like they had planned. They had to avoid suspicion, not that the police would be able to find them if they left.

When Lyra heard this, she threw a typical newborn fit. She started stomping around and cracked some of the floorboards. Jasper calmed her down and thankfully they didn't need to restrain her, and Edward didn't have to bash her head into a wall like had to do with Rosalie when she was first turned. Nevertheless, they were all thankful they lived far away from town, so people wouldn't hear her screeching. After all, her strange calm from before couldn't last forever.

Lyra was a very typical newborn. It didn't matter how serene or nice she had been as a human; she was still prone to fits of rage for no reason. Or she would sit calmly as stare at dust as it floated by, for hours on end. Unfortunately they were stuck in Forks for at least another week, and a few hours of convenient silence didn't do much good for all of them.

Thankfully though, Lyra made it easy for Edward to explain why she had to be so controlled when they were on a hunting trip.

"Why are they all so scared of me? Your family?" she asked as she made a tube top out of her ruined shirt while he was turned away. She hadn't gotten any better at not getting her clothes all torn up during hunting. "It's not like they can't handle me…"

"They aren't scared of you. There's just…things that they are worried about. Things that don't have to do with you."

"Like what?"

"Lyra…" he groaned. How could he explain it to a newborn? "Have you been watching the news? Or did you, when you were human?"

"Not really. I was always busy with school or gymnastics." She turned him around now, finally presentable.

"Well, recently, in Seattle, there have been a string of killings and now we think it was Victoria, the woman who turned you. If she keeps on doing this, the Volturi will step in and things could get ugly, especially if they learn about you."

"Wait what? The Volturi? What's that?"

"They're the royalty of our world. Do you remember when we first explained things to you, and we mentioned the oldest vampire? Well, he's sort of the ruler of the vampire world, the leader of the Volturi.

"The Volturi are people, vampires, who enforce the rules of our world. Victoria has been killing for weeks without covering it up, which could expose us. That is the number one rule for our kind: never show what you are. The Volturi will step in soon to stop her, and they will most likely visit us, because Carlisle is 'friends' with Aro, the leader. My family's just worried; we don't really like the Volturi." He explained, meanwhile trying not to look at the ample skin she was showing.

"They won't…they won't hurt me will they?" she asked anxiously.

"No, we won't let them. It was Victoria's fault and you are being looked after, so no rules have been broken on your account."

"But I killed someone! It's that breaking a rule?" she cried. Against his better judgment, Edward chuckled and she scowled.

"Lyra, our family…I said we're vegetarians and it wasn't just as a joke. Most vampires are nomads who roam around, killing humans whenever they want to. Only our family and one up in Alaska, whom we consider our cousins, stick to this diet. Even the Volturi take advantage of the tourism Volterra gets." Lyra gasped when she understood his meaning.

"So…they're afraid the Volturi will come here? Because of Victoria?"

"Yes."

"Oh…I never realized there were so many aspects to this life. I just thought it was live forever and kill animals," she shrugged.

"Well, once you are able to be around humans, it's actually not that bad. You can learn whatever you want, go where you want to. And when you find someone you want to be with, then it gets better. According to my family anyway." It was a subtle hint, but he looked down in embarrassment anyway.

"Maybe we'll both find our other halves someday. Thank you," she walked over and kissed his cheek and started running back to the house.

Edward looked solemnly after her. This whole situation changed things drastically. He just wasn't sure if it changed things between _them_. He had liked her, and from her human body's reactions and his family's opinions, she liked him too. But did she still feel the same way? He knew he did, but it wouldn't work if she didn't. The transformation freezes a person as they are, but during the process, as all their darkest secrets and desires come out, it can change them so they are different as a vampire. Since none of them were there when she changed, nobody knew what was different. They didn't know if the mood swings were permanent or just a newborn trait that would go away. They didn't know if she had a power or if she would even stay with them at all. It was all very concerning, yet he found himself most worried about her feelings for him. Could he be anymore selfish?

"Oh dear…" Esme sighed as Lyra walked through the back door, now fixed, in her makeshift shirt. Lyra smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders, following Esme upstairs to go get changed. That left Edward alone with his two brothers in the living room, and Jasper immediately was caught up in his gloomy mood.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Edward just shook his head; he couldn't really voice his worries when Lyra was right upstairs, within hearing range.

_Is it Lyra again?_ Edward nodded. _Man, come on! Just tell her how you feel already!_

Frowning, Edward took a piece of paper and wrote **No! She's been through too much in the past few days! **and shoved it toward his brothers on the couch. Jasper crumpled the piece of paper up and chucked it at him, sighing melodramatically.

_Edward, you are_ sooo _clueless. Sure, she's probably confused and a little scared, but she also wants someone there for her. Be that person, don't let Rosalie do it._

His brothers got up and left, leaving him to his thoughts and a crumpled piece of paper.

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The Cullens stood, gawking at Lyra as she crossed her arms.

"Well? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Lyra…that's not a good idea," Carlisle warned.

"Yes, honey I know you want to, but you won't be able to control yourself if you got anywhere near a human, no matter how much you've hunted in the past few days." Esme soothed as Lyra's face fell.

Apparently, Lyra wanted to go back to her house to get some of her things, for keepsakes of her human life. That was understandable, and normally they would let her, but she lived in a suburban area, where there were lots of humans.

"But my family is gone! It's been two weeks since they found out I 'died' and I doubt they would have cancelled our trip back to Bulgaria. They're probably going back to tell the rest of our family!"

"Yes, but Lyra, you have to take into account the other humans that will be there. You live in an urban neighborhood, you'll be able to smell and hear all the people around your house. It's not worth risking all those lives." Edward explained as gently as he could.

"Well…couldn't we go at night? When all the humans are asleep? Their blood won't be moving so fast then right? So it won't be so dangerous! Plus, I'll hunt and we can bring Jasper and Emmett just in case. Please, I just want to get some things so I can remember…not all of my human life was bad." She glanced at Edward, seeing as he was the only one, as far as she knew, that she had told about her secret.

Edward listened to his parent's internal struggle over this. All of his siblings were willing to let here, since her argument made sense and they could relate. But Carlisle and Esme were uncertain and it was their decision, because the repercussions would fall on them if anything went wrong.

Finally they caved.

"Fine, but you'll go at night and you'll bring Jasper, Emmett, Alice and Edward with you. We'll need you to make certain that no one is awake," he nodded to Edward, "and you to make sure nothing will happen," he looked at Alice. It was obvious why his male siblings were going. "When is your family coming back?" Lyra quickly glanced at the calendar.

"In about three days, so we'll be safe." She smiled and everybody else did too. Her moods were contagious, just like Jasper's were; if she wanted people to do something, they would do it. She was very charismatic but unfortunately, it hadn't manifested into a gift, as far as anyone could tell.

"All right, we'll go in the early morning, just to be cautious. And Lyra, to be safe, when you get within range of your neighborhood you best stop breathing, it will be far easier to get what you want without smelling anything." Carlisle instructed. She nodded seriously and bounced up the stairs, more excited than she had been in the past few days.

When night fell and gave them the cover they needed, all five of them ran through the woods, staying out of the way of any hiker paths or nearby towns. Edward led the group and Lyra was right next to him, anxious to see her house again.

"Now's the time to stop breathing," he warned her and immediately she stopped, her chest still. It was a little funny at first; she had her cheeks puffed out like she was storing air. Only when Rosalie told her she didn't have to did she stop, embarrassment covering her face. They all snickered, but then stopped dead when they reached the edge of the woods moments later, staring at the big house in front of them.

"It looks the same but feels so different…" Lyra whispered.

"Dang! You guys must have been loaded to afford that place!" Emmett chortled.

"Yeah," Lyra replied distractedly then was on her porch seconds later. Edward went to meet her there and she pulled out a key that fit into the lock and turned, undoing the latch. Pulling the door aside quietly, like someone might still be there, she stepped inside and gasped.

Edward was immediately on the defensive, but stopped when he realized she was taking everything in with her new eyes. Sadness plagued her thoughts as she wandered through the living room and kitchen; she knew this was the last time she would ever be back in her human surroundings.

"What did you want to get?" he asked and she mutely headed for the stairs. His family flowed into the living room and looked around, but otherwise left them alone.

What they found in her room was not what they expected.

It was all gone.

Nothing was left in her room but a bed frame, a bare mattress and a few of the picture and baubles she had had on her shelves. Her closet was empty, her desk and computer were gone and her bedspread was missing.

"They…already…" she cried silently and started sobbing.

_How could they do that?_ Edward thought furiously as he held her and smoothed her hair soothingly. _She was their daughter and two weeks after she's gone they've already packed up all of her things? Some family they are…_

Edward held her for a few more minutes before she pulled out of his arms and grabbed the red fuzzy blanket on the floor, hugging it to her chest.

"My grandma gave me this," she whispered as she traced the lighter red flowers on the blanket with her index finger. "All of the things I wanted to bring home, she gave me. Like that." She pointed to a pink and white lump in the corner and he went to pick it up. It was a little stuffed pig, its head slumped over, all the stuffing gone from its neck. "I used to carry him in a choke hold all the time," she laughed. "His name is Prasentse. Piggy," she translated.

"You can bring these things if you want to Lyra. Nobody would judge you. Rosalie still has her favorite mirror and hairclip from her human house, Jasper has his draft papers from the Civil War and I still have a journal from when I was sixteen. It's the smallest things we find the most important."

But Lyra wasn't paying attention to him as she spoke, instead staring at the wall behind him. Then she was over by one of the shelves, fingering a picture frame in his hands. He looked over her shoulder and it was a picture of her and her family on a beach. They looked happy: they were all smiling and holding each other. But Lyra was by her mother and was farther away from her grasp, her mother's arm stretched so it could reach her other shoulder. Obviously they weren't that close.

Suddenly Lyra gave an angry cry and threw the picture against the far war, breaking the frame and shattering the glass.

"Lyra!" he exclaimed and grabbed her shoulders, afraid she was having another newborn outburst. But she turned into his chest instead, wrapping her arms around his neck, sobbing again.

"They don't even care!" she wept. "They don't even care that I'm dead! That I'm never coming back!" Edward decided against speaking ill of her family and just held her instead. But about three minutes later, headlights flashed through the window and they froze. Rushing downstairs, Edward hissed for his siblings but they came striding in through the garage door in the kitchen, like nothing was happening.

"Chill out, it's just Rosalie," Emmett explained. Edward's eyebrows scrunched in confusion and him and Lyra looked at each other. "She ran back to get her car while you two were upstairs."

"Why?" Lyra asked. Then Rosalie came walking in the through the open porch door.

"I found bags and boxes full of amazing clothes out at the end of the driveway, marked DONATE. I looked at the recent calls and you parents called the town charity to come pick them up, so we can take them if you want them. I most certainly would hate to get rid of all that stuff, especially since you look so good in it," she complimented. Lyra just stared at her before saying 'oh', obviously shocked. It was a blatant attempt at cheering her up on Rosalie's part, but it seemed to work because she followed her new sister outside to sort through things.

"Now, we'll have to leave some things so the charity doesn't call saying there was nothing there, but there are bags of stuff other than your clothes and shoes, so we're fine." Rosalie explained. They hauled 4 bags and 3 boxes into the trunk of Emmett's Jeep; Rosalie had picked it since it had the most trunk space.

They encouraged her to take a few baubles she seemed uncertain of parting with, one of which was a picture of her and her brother laughing. Her brother seemed to be the only family member she liked, besides her grandmother, and she needed those reminders right now, to get through the difficult newborn stage.

And when nobody was looking, too busy consoling Lyra and helping pick things out, Edward took a picture of Lyra out of a frame and stuck it in his pocket. It was one of her in a white dress with pink flowers, her hair down and curled at the ends, holding a pink Japanese umbrella over her head. She was strolling down a beach, water around her feet. It was utterly beautiful and her face was so calm and happy he just had to keep it. He would give it to her later, after she was more accustomed to being a vampire.

Rosalie and Emmett drove the Jeep back through town while Edward, Lyra and Jasper ran to the house. They beat the car back of course, and Edward was pleased to see that Jasper and Lyra were becoming quick friends. They were much the same, and Jasper could actually use a friend, especially one he could relate to, like Lyra. Edward wasn't the only one connected to her it seemed.

When they were back at the house, Carlisle and Esme worried about how much they had taken, but were surprised and happy when they explained. Most newborns wanted their human lives back, and things from that stage of their lives helped them get used to a vampire's existence.

Thankfully, even with all the extra cargo, everything they were bringing to Alaska fit in the trunks of their cars and their house was already disconnected from the companies they used to get heat, water and air control. They were set to leave for Alaska whenever they wanted now.

The only thing to do was for Carlisle to quit his job and then they would leave.

The night they severed the final tie, Edward was home with Lyra while the others went out and hunted. Carlisle came home and told them they were all set to go in the morning, or whenever.

"Good, I guess we can go when the others get back." Their family had just left, so it wouldn't be for a while.

They conversed, Carlisle describing the beauty of Alaska to Lyra when she asked. He seemed to be hiding something on purpose, making Edward suspicious. But as Carlisle turned on the TV and the news came on with more about the Seattle killings, that barrier he had been holding up slipped from his mind. Good thing it wasn't bad news.

"You didn't," Edward drawled. Carlisle looked a little sheepish as he nodded.

"I couldn't think of another way. I didn't want Aro to come by and see Lyra when she's still so young, so I sent a letter telling the Volturi guard that there's a vampire here they need to remove. This way, they do their job, nobody is in danger from Victoria and Lyra is safe."

"For now," Edward snorted. "When will they get here."

"Probably not for a few days, and we'll be in Alaska by then, so I doubt they'll bother coming to visit all the way up there. Caius hates Alaska."

_Don't worry Edward, Lyra will be fine_. Edward just nodded, hoping his father was right.

A few hours later, the rest of the family returned and Carlisle told them about his letter to Italy. Everybody was visibly uptight, especially Lyra, but when he told them they could leave anytime, everybody sprang up and was out to their cars in seconds. Carlisle laughed at their urgency.

It was around 2:35 in the morning when they made it out of the Forks city limits. As they drove farther and farther away from where his life had truly begun, memories flashed through Edward's mind.

The monotonous days at school, that horrible first hour in biology class, falling in love with Bella, wanting to kill Mike Newton. Then meeting Lyra for the first time and pushing out all the thoughts of the humans around them as they noticed her. Those memories made him grit his teeth at the things all the vile males had been thinking about her. As he remembered Jacob and the whole imprinting deal, Edward felt no pain or sadness, maybe a tiny bit of anger at Bella for how she had acted.

Lyra was his only concern now, and he watched as she turned around in her seat, watching the tiny town disappear for the last time.

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It's adventure time now! The next chapter is called _Meeting the Cousins_, so you can guess what happens then.

For all of you Jacob, Bella, JacobxBella fans out there, they won't be mentioned again in this story, expect for a few passing references. Victoria is out of the picture too, but the Volturi will be coming back. I told you from the start that it's a new plot happening here, so the newborn army and all the crap that happens in _New Moon/Eclipse/Breaking Dawn_ is gone.

R&R

-cally (^o^)

**P.S**- I've noticed that in the reviews, it's the same four people reviewing every chapter. You four know who you are and I'm grateful that you review, but come on my readers! I'd really like to hear from all of you, or at least some different voices…


	13. Meeting The Cousins

**Summary**: The Cullens head to Alaska. On the way there, Edward learns a lot more about Lyra than he thought he would and Lyra meets the Denalis. Actually, I wrote this chapter before the last few, because I got the idea when I was bored in study hall at school, so some things may seem a bit strange/off.

**Rating**: Some swearing and mentioning of Lyra's abuse, but otherwise it's not that bad a chapter. K+.

**Word Count**: ~4.4k

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters, it all belongs to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

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Alaska. It was his second favorite place in the world besides Washington. It was quiet and barren, the perfect place if you wanted to be alone. Or of you were a volatile newborn that wanted to murder everything in sight.

Edward turned to look at Lyra. She was glaring ahead, oblivious to the beauty a few feet to her right. Her bright red eyes stared blankly through the windshield, her brow puckered.

She had been like that ever since the trip started, right after they left Forks, past the violent stage, and going into the angry-for-no-reason part. Though she had good reason to be that way, since her family had practically forgotten about her, Edward really hoped her face wouldn't be stuck like that forever, like Rosalie's. Better yet, he hoped they wouldn't have _another_ Rosalie on their hands.

On the plus side, he finally understood Alice's vision so many months ago in the library. The vision wouldn't change because Jacob would've imprinted on Bella no matter when he saw her. Because her and Edward would eventually split up, Victoria would have guessed he was with Lyra. That would lead to her transformation into a vampire, forcing them to go to Alaska.

No matter what anybody had done, nothing could have stopped Jacob from seeing Bella eventually. Then after that, it was only a matter of time until all the other events took place. Like a domino teetering on the edge; all it took was one little nudge to send them all tumbling over.

They had left a day ago and were nearly to their destination: Denali, Alaska, which was 2,348 miles from Forks and at least 30 miles away from any type of civilization, at least the house they bought was. The trip would take a human driver 51 hours to get there if they drove non-stop; however with the beloved vampire indulgence of speed, they were almost to their new home, and they had been on the road for 25 hours. They didn't need to sleep and Emmett had packed several tanks of gas in the trunk so they wouldn't have to stop for a while, so everything worked out well. One of Edward's family members would stop and get gas for them then they would meet somewhere if they ran out, so Lyra wasn't tempted to jump a human if they got too close.

"How's your throat?" He asked his companion anxiously; she was already crabby enough because her mood swings were getting worse, he didn't need her hungry too. "Are you thirsty?"

"I wasn't until you asked 3 seconds ago," she growled. "I'm fine, let's just get to this house already." Yep, she was grumpy. They were doomed to endure another Rosalie for the rest of their eternal lives.

"Sorry," he said bitterly. He had liked Lyra when she was human, but she was making him frustrated as a vampire. The eerie calm that had been there as they introduced her to this life and as she moved with them was mostly gone, replaced by irritation.

"Hey, I have a question." What a surprise. "Why aren't I tired? I haven't slept in four days, yet I'm not the slightest bit sleepy."

"Vampires can't sleep," he replied simply.

"Ever?"

"Never."

"Oh…that's inconvenient."

"Yes, it sucks at first because you're so used to it being part of your routine and it can get boring, but there are so many things you can do in that time that you couldn't before."

"Like what?" she inquired.

"Well, I know when I was first turned and had nothing to do because Carlisle was at work, I learned a few languages and studied a lot, so I could know things I didn't before. We have photographic memories too, so we don't have to repeatedly stare at something to remember it. It can be quite useful."

"Huh…I'd still like to be able to sleep," she grumbled. Well there wasn't much he could do about that. After another hour of her reading a book and him listlessly driving, she spoke again, like she was desperate to talk.

"So you guys have family here?" she questioned skeptically. It seemed to be her permanent tone lately.

"Yes, of sorts. They're the only other 'vegetarian' clan we've found. Carlisle came across them a while back, and was friends with Eleazar before he met the others. Usually they're the ones who visit us; we like to stay to the continental U.S while they prefer Alaska; they've been there for over 50 years."

"Why did they choose Alaska?"

"For one thing, there's hardly any sun; half of the time it's day, but looks like it's six in the afternoon. Another thing they like about it is that it's secluded in most parts. They can move anywhere because most of the cities aren't really in contact with one another so their existence as vampires won't be discovered.

"And the Alaskan wilderness has a lot of predators; different types of bears, lynx, coyotes…wolves. There's an overabundance of moose and caribou, but they're not as fun, and not as…fulfilling. You're probably better off hunting the predators for now; they'll satisfy your thirst more. When you don't need to hunt as much, after your newborn strength wanes, you can switch so you don't damage the predator-prey balance too much." God, he sounded like some park ranger reading a pamphlet.

"Will you show me? All Jasper taught me was how to not get my clothes all gross when I kill a deer."

"Yes; in fact, I'm sure our Denali cousins will be glad to help you. Don't be offended if they seem overcautious and want to go with you all the time; Denali is their favorite Alaskan city, the place they stay the most. They'll just be wary since you're a newborn and newborns aren't known for control, especially of their bloodlust. They really are a friendly bunch, just protective of what they love."

"You sound like you haven't even told them about me," she snorted. When Edward looked out his window to avoid her staring, she gasped. "Oh my God, you haven't have you? What if they don't want me to stay? You just said they're 'protective'!"

"Don't worry about it Lyra. When Carlisle introduced them to me, they didn't know he had brought me with him. It was a surprise. I can tell you from experience what they'll do; in fact they'll probably be overjoyed to have you there, all the women at least. Eleazar is the only man out of the five, so majority rules." He snickered; the odds had always been in the women's favor.

"Are you sure?" she asked self-consciously.

"Yes, you'll be fine," he assured her. His thoughts wandered to the strawberry blonde vampire waiting for them: Tanya. She might not be as accepting as the others; she was still hopeful that Edward might finally accept her 'invitation' after decades of pestering him. Now that Bella was out of the picture, she would probably be more persistent in her annoying advances and she might see Lyra as a threat to that. "You might want to try to avoid Tanya though," he added.

"Why?"

"Well…she's very…tenacious. To put it gently she a rather…er…_loose_ woman who likes to have fun, and it's not limited to vampires," he hinted. His family found it funny that he didn't like to talk about sex, but he found it annoying. He was only trying to be a gentleman.

"Meaning what? She likes human men?" she asked, that skeptical tone leaking into her voice again, but she was quick to understand. Edward just looked at her. "Oh," she said awkwardly when she realized she was right. "Is that safe?"

"Tanya and her sisters are very good at this life; they discovered their consciences slowly, after decades of taking human lives. They liked to indulge themselves in human men, with both their bodies and their blood. None of them have killed a human in centuries; their love for human men is what made them stop killing." He remembered Tanya telling him that she 'hardly left a bruise anymore' as she winked at him seductively.

"Lovely. So why should I stay away from her?"

"Ever since Carlisle introduced me to them, she's been inviting me to join her in that 'activity'. Apparently I'm the only man ever to refuse her, so she's been rather persistent through the decades. Esme said that she was trying to cover her joy over the phone when she told her that I wasn't with Bella anymore. She might see you as a threat to her."

"What, she thinks we're together? There's an idea," Lyra laughed.

"Like I said, they don't know you even exist yet, but yes, that's probably what she'll think. She's very…competitive I guess you could say." Meanwhile, he twisted her last sentence around in his head. 'There's an idea'…

"Well she has nothing to worry about. I'm too pissed off right now to even think of anything like that. Just give me a heads up if you decide to accept her offer, so I can leave." Ouch.

"Don't worry I don't plan on doing that anytime soon."

"Good."

Silence filled the car as they sped down the empty highway. Lyra pulled out a book from her bag that she had brought. Something in Bulgarian, from the looks of the title.

But her last words had sparked a question in his head, one that he had forgotten about until now. He had wanted to ask her about it way before then, but all the stuff with Jacob, Bella and her had stopped him from asking.

"I have a question," he started. She looked at him reluctantly.

"Fine. What?"

"Well…I don't know if you remember, but do you recall when I bumped into you that one day, before all this happened. It was about two weeks after you came to Forks…" Lyra puckered her forehead, sifting through the memories.

"Maybe…why?"

"Well, I know this might be personal, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but you had a letter with you that day. It fell and I grabbed it for you."

"Yeah, so?"

"I read something on it that I was curious about and-"

"Wait, you read it?" she screeched, furious. Newborn tempers flare so easily.

"I didn't _read_ it; I just saw a few words. I recognized them because Carlisle taught me Russian and some other Slavic languages. Don't worry, I wasn't trying to read it, it was just something I saw as I handed it back."

"Well what did you read?"

"Something about a fiancé…" This made Lyra be quiet. Worrying her lip for a few seconds, she looked at him and then down to her hands, which were playing with the hem of her knitted white sweater.

"Um…it was just a letter my mom gave me before she left. She had gone on a business trip that morning." She stopped and Edward waited. "In the more traditional European countries, like Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, etcetera, the parents of some teenagers stick to the older values. My mom has been looking for suitors, or potential fiancés, for me since I was fourteen. It was a letter about some guy I knew growing up in Bulgaria and how she thought he was perfect for me since he wanted to move to the US. That's all."

"Oh…how did that go?"

"She set up a meeting so we could talk, get to know one another a little. Usually, potentially engaged couples like that only know each other for a few months before they get married, since the marriage isn't necessarily for love and all that. In fact, he was at that camp I was driving back from when Victoria attacked me…" she whispered, her eyes glazing over as she remembered.

Edward heard the sound of bending metal and screeching brakes through the memory in her mind, as well as a deep male voice and flashes of blonde and red hair.

"Did you like him at all?" she snapped out of her reverie and her face hardened.

"I liked him. So did my mom. But then she had to go and open her fat mouth about what happened with my uncle back in Bulgaria. After he learned about that, the fact that I wasn't 'pure' anymore, he backed out, saying he didn't want a 'used bride'." She said with venom in her voice.

"How could he say that?" Edward exclaimed. "He talked about you like you were some beat up car! You're a _person_ and a nice girl; you don't deserve someone like that."

"Thanks," she smiled, one of the few she had shown since she had turned. "Unfortunately, that's what happened with most of the guys my mom tried to set me up with. Ten out of the fourteen quit when they learned I wasn't a virgin. Purity is a big thing in Europe, the whole 'save yourself until marriage' thing. I would have, but it wasn't exactly my choice, yet they still blame me for it." Now she sounded sad. "I'll be glad when I can forget that; that's one memory I _want_ to fade away."

"You do know it wasn't your fault right?" he asked.

"Of course I do. Or, at least I do now. The first time it happened, my mom didn't notice until a month later, after I had been crying myself to sleep every night. I told her what happened but she didn't believe me until she took me to the doctor and he said I had been raped by someone.

"After that she started pushing me in my gymnastics and singing, drilling me on my etiquette and manners. She was concerned about what this would do to my chances of finding a husband and put me through hell so it wouldn't; after a while I was telling myself that if I had been stronger that night, I could have prevented it from happening in the first place and my life wouldn't be so miserable. Her and my dad both told me it was my fault, because they would have a harder time selling me off to some guy ten years older than me by the time I was eighteen."

Edward absorbed this as she sat there in her seat with her shoulders slumped. Her lips were quivering and he guessed that if she could, she was be crying by now. So he did the only think he could think of: he reached over and grabbed her hand.

"It wasn't your fault Lyra," he whispered, squeezing her hand gently. "Those people were wrong to treat you like that; like property. You belong to yourself, no one else, no matter what anybody says." He nodded, sure of his words.

Lyra stared at him with a heartfelt expression. He realized that it was her culture and he should respect it; but how a _man_, a_ European _man, those who were supposed to be the gentleman out of all the other places in the world, could treat her like she was _his_…it was unforgivable. Edward found himself wanting to hurt the man who would speak to her like that. He had to relax his hands so he didn't crush the steering wheel to splinters.

"Have you told Rosalie this?" he asked, trying to distract himself.

"No, why would I?" she sounded confused, and now he was too.

"Didn't she tell you? I thought she would have…" he pondered this.

"Tell me what?"

"Rosalie had a similar experience when she was human," he said slowly. Comprehension dawned on Lyra's face. "It wasn't quite like yours…but she was a very popular, well known girl in the town she lived in. Her parents were rich like yours and would show her off to everybody, because she was so beautiful. They found her a fiancé, but he and some of his out-of-town friends got drunk one night and nearly killed her, they assaulted her so many times. Carlisle smelled the blood and turned her, because he didn't want to waste all her 'potential'.

"I thought that's why she was so fond of you; she told me once, when I asked why she liked you, that she saw something of herself in you. She said she could tell from experience that she could relate to you. I read her thoughts and figured out that she meant you two had similar experiences because of the abuse you both suffered. That's why I told her about the flyer you dropped…"

The car with filled with a thick silence again. Lyra looked like she would be bawling if she could, and grasped his hand tighter. They drove like that for a while, until they were just 30 miles from the house they had bought.

"She was hurt too…" Lyra finally whispered. "That's why she was so easy to talk to…"

"What do you mean?"

"…When my mother took me to the doctor after I was forced the first time, he asked me who it was, what he did and all that stuff, so he could build up a report to give to the police. But I couldn't remember exactly what happened, even though I tried. Later on I started forgetting things and my mother got fed up and brought me to the same doctor, wondering if I had a concussion or something. He said it was probably the trauma that was causing the memory loss; he said that it was common in sexual assault victims, for them to forget things either from before or after the attack.

"I never told Rosalie what happened to me, but I think she could tell, and that's why I felt like I could talk to her, because she didn't judge me. I told her I had trouble remembering things and she said she did too."

"That's probably more of the vampire side-effects than it was her assault. That memory in particular is one that she held onto dearly."

"Why?" Lyra exclaimed.

"Rosalie has always been very sensitive and dramatic. What they did to her was the reason she was turned and the reason why she would never get the things she still wanted, like a family and growing old. She held onto it so she would always remember the hatred she felt. It got better when she found Emmett, but before that, she wasn't above taking advantage of her newborn strength."

"Meaning?" Lyra pushed. Edward sighed; he hadn't wanted to tell her this part in the fear that she might do the same thing.

"After she was turned, she killed all five of the men who hurt her, including her ex-fiancé. She stole and wore a wedding dress." He laughed at her confused face. "I told you she was dramatic. Anyway, she picked them off one by one, saving Royce King for last so he would know what was coming for him. She also killed the two guards he had protecting him in his little bank vault." Edward chuckled dryly. "Not that it did them much good." He looked at Lyra, who was staring incredulously at him. "Not that I'm condoning what she did, since two of her victims were innocent men, but even Esme and Carlisle turned the other way because they felt she was owed her justice. After that she adapted to our diet fairly quickly, despite what I thought she would do."

Silence filled the car as she absorbed all of this.

"That's why everybody is so wary of you Lyra," he explained gently. "You were monstrously wronged, and we were all worried that once you discovered all your new abilities after your transformation, you would go after the people who hurt you, probably killing more in the process because of your young, insatiable thirst. Luckily, you're one of the few newborns who retained their senses and didn't do anything rash; that's a very good thing. If you hadn't, you wouldn't like the guilt you'd be wallowing in right now," he added.

"So we're moving to Alaska so I won't be tempted?"

"Basically, yes. You'll be away from humans, which won't make your thirst as bad as it would be otherwise; and Alaska is secluded so you can have all the animal blood you want. That will help with the human blood craving you'll get when we start letting you get closer to civilization again," he laughed to lighten the mood. It worked, because Lyra laughed with him.

By then, they were driving down a bumpy driveway surrounded by thick trees. After two minutes, the trees thinned and a massive house came into full view.

It was painted a dark, woodsy brown with tan windows and doors. There were windows everywhere, either average sized and square, long and rectangular or full length across a wall. There was a wrap-around porch on the first level and there was supposed to be a few balconies branching off from some of the bedrooms.

Fluffy looking bushes surrounded the porch and vines crept up the sides. It had a homey feeling to it; the look Edward had been going for when he purchased it, since it was his choice this time. He wanted Lyra to feel like she had a home here, so she hopefully wouldn't miss Forks so much.

"Wow," she breathed. "This is way bigger than my house back in Washington; look at all the windows!"

"Yeah, there's not a lot of natural light out here, but the trees get in the way. I wanted something that would let in as much light as possible."

He parked the car and stepped out into the clean, crisp air, breathing it in. He waltzed up to the door as Lyra slammed the car door shut, obviously nervous. The talking he heard coming from inside quieted down a little as he made his way to the door.

They walked into the giant house and saw their Denali cousins standing by the enormous fireplace. Carlisle and Esme were talking to Carmen and Eleazar while Alice and Irina talked fashion. Rosalie was sitting on the couch having a 'moment' with Emmett, both of them oblivious to the world; Kate was probably the one he heard walking around upstairs.

"Edward! I trust the drive was well," Eleazar greeted in his Spanish accent as they stepped forward to shake hands with each other. "So you still haven't told us why you decided to move up here so suddenly." He inquired.

Edward would have thought the reason was fairly obvious, given the newborn behind him. He turned to see she was still outside, out of sight. Looking down to hide his smirk, he called her name softly.

"Lyra, it's all right to come in." Eleazar looked at Carlisle, confused.

"We have a new member of the family," he explained.

A collective gasp went through their cousins as Lyra stepped into the room slowly, inching her way around the open door.

_So that's why…_ Eleazar thought.

_My goodness…Edward's certainly found himself a looker…Tanya won't be pleased_, Irina thought as she scrutinized the dark haired girl by the door, chuckling at the last thought.

Lyra stood there after she closed the door, clasping her hands together in front of her in awkwardness. He noticed her hair was perfectly placed so it swept over her right shoulder and her jean skirt was wrinkle free; she must have nervously primped herself before coming in.

"Lyra was it?" Carmen asked, the first one to speak aloud. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she stepped forward slowly to shake Lyra's hand. Lyra eyed her warily, repressing her newborn instincts and took her hand, moving it up and down stiffly.

"Yes, that's right; Lyra Valarchev," she replied softly. Edward stifled his urge to laugh at the collective astonishment at their new friend's accent; they hadn't been expecting that.

"Well have a seat my dear, introduce yourself," Carmen encouraged, gesturing to one of the dark brown leather couches surrounding the fireplace. Lyra nodded mutely and went to go sit by Rosalie, who took her hand and smiled at her reassuringly, finally out of her stupor with Emmett.

"So, my name is Carmen and this is my husband Eleazar," the little Latin vampire started. "This is Irina," she pointed to Irina, who waved animatedly. "Kate and Tanya are upstairs looking around. Girls," she called softly. In a moment, two blonde women were standing at the top of the staircase, staring down at them with golden eyes.

"Yes?" they asked in unison, giggling.

"Come meet Lyra," Eleazar instructed, a quiet warning in his voice. Tanya's eyes had gone straight to Edward while Kate looked surprised to find Lyra there.

"What happened to Bella?" Kate asked. Edward grit his teeth and looked down. Esme shook her head at the blonde, who nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry Edward…"

"What's done is done," He said simply.

The two girls made their way down the stairs and while Kate walked over to say hello to Lyra, Tanya strutted right over to him.

"I've missed you Edward," she said, a seductive hint in her voice. He just rolled his eyes as he returned her embrace.

"It's good to see you Tanya," he replied. "It's nice to see all of you again," he added when she beamed. Her face turned slightly annoyed when he greeted them all instead of just her. Then her eyes focused on Lyra and she frowned quickly.

"And who's this?" she asked, a hint of condescension in her voice. _Bella's replacement?_ She wondered curiously. _If Bella's suddenly not in the picture anymore…_

Edward stopped listening as her thoughts trailed off into hopeless possibilities.

"This is Lyra; she was Bella's friend who moved to Forks," Edward explained. Lyra waved shyly.

"Welcome to the family Lyra," Tanya purred, a challenging tone in her voice. The smiles on their family's faces wavered a bit at her tone.

Oh yes. This would be a long stay.

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What is Tanya planning? We'll find out later, so be sure to tune in! :D

REVIEW!

**P.S-** I'd still like to hear some new voices, so please speak up and tell me what you think, even if it's only a few words. Don't be shy, I'm open to **constructive** criticism, I think I could use it. But seriously, no flames please.

-cally (^o^)


	14. Dirtied Flowers

**Summary**: The Cullens and Denalis introduce Lyra to skiing and discover something astonishing about her. Also, Lyra shares a little anecdote from Bulgaria with Edward, which just reinforces his feelings for her.

**Rating**: T, for swearing, angst, sex references, depression and more angst. Oh, and this chapter is un-betaed and unrevised so beware, there may be some 'huh?' moments.

**Word Count**: Shorty chapter here, ~3.9k

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Twilight. Or Alaska.

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Alaska turned out to be the perfect distraction for Lyra. There were endless places to run to, impossible amounts of animals to hunt and the unyielding beauty of the mountainous scenery to enjoy.

If only she could appreciate it.

Because Lyra was not interested in Alaska itself; no, she chose to indulge in the more irresponsible joys of this life, and Emmett was not helping. In fact, he was encouraging her.

So far, they had managed to destroy half the house with fire, rebuild it, knock down half the trees surrounding the house and break off huge chunks of rock from the mountains around them. Boulders the size of elephants littered the expanse of open ground in the front yard.

"Could you please try not to be so destructive?" He'd asked her after she had discovered her attraction to fire. Of course she said no.

"Well it's either this, humans or you. Or would you like to get your butt kicked wrestling me?" She growled.

Emmett waggled his eyebrows at Edward from behind his new best friend.

"Yeah Ed. _Wrestle_with her." They both turned to stare at him with incredulous expressions as they caught on to his innuendo.

Edward sighed and raised his hands in defeat.

"Fine; but don't say I didn't warn you. Esme will be on the warpath tonight." Rosalie snorted behind them. She was the culprit; she had twisted their new sister into being a pyromaniac who liked to crush things.

"At least she's getting it out of her system Edward." Jasper reminded him. "It's better than killing humans."

"Not by much, with the way she's going," he huffed. This was definitely not what he had expected when they decided to move to Alaska. He missed the calm, quiet girl she had been as a human and at the beginning of her new life as a vampire. But this was probably the more active side of her they hadn't seen when she was human.

And despite her serene and delicate looking exterior, Lyra was one of the most…_energetic_vampires he had ever met. Her high heeled shoes and flowing dresses were a façade, not only to hide the hurt from her human life, but to disguise her true nature.

In all honesty, she was the ideal vampire.

Not the 'must-destroy-all' type, but the beautiful yet deadly kind. Edward was 'assigned' to watch her most of the time, letting him see this creature first hand, to hear her calculating everything in her mind; planning. She wasn't cynical or distrustful, but was always mapping things out, which made her even more dangerous. So far, even with his capabilities, she had outsmarted him playing chess, out-maneuvered Emmett during a baseball game and had excelled beyond Alice in the fashionista department. It was as scary as it was impressive.

Plus, it didn't help that this new lifestyle she was living made her act like she was bipolar. Most newborns acted that way, but the difference between the calm, sweet European girl and the champion-of-all smartalic was staggering. To him at least. Most of the other vampires in the house thought it was funny.

But strangely, he still felt the exact same way toward her. He still found her beautiful and smart, fun and witty, despite her change in behavior. It confused him, because she was so different, but that fact just seemed to make his feelings stronger. It reinforced his suspicion that they were supposed to be together, and Carlisle agreed with him, when Edward got the guts to spill the beans to his father.

After that he deemed himself a coward for not being able to tell her, whereas with Bella it came so easily. In an attempt to be certain they were supposed to be together, he spent as much time with her as possible. They went hunting together, swimming and he even helped her learn to fight, if she ever were to need those skills. That was the one area he beat her in.

Thankfully, this unpredictable, bipolar-ish stage only latest the first few months they were in Alaska. It was all part of the newborn phase, though hers had been more drastic than the rest of the family's had, and she was out of it within five months.

That was when Carmen deemed her worthy to learn about their 'secret' family activity.

"Skiing? Really?" Lyra asked skeptically. Carmen nodded eagerly; her and Esme were always finding new ways to involve all of them in some big 'family event' and skiing competitions were their favorite. "I don't know…I've never been skiing before…"

"Don't worry. You're a vampire now; it'll be easy, just like everything is with your new skills," Kate encouraged. Her and Irina had taken to Lyra nicely. The only one who wasn't quite on the sister or daughter level with her was Tanya, and Edward of course, but that was because he had feelings for her. Tanya was _still_ hopelessly jealous.

"All right," she agreed uneasily. They all laughed at her discomfort and continued to tease her on the drive up to their mountain spot. When they go there, they all stared open mouthed at the terrain; Esme and Carmen had created new courses, filled with ramps, hills, the whole shebang.

"Oh God…" Lyra cried quieted. They all laughed at her as they put on their gear while she was staring uncertainly down the mountain side. "Isn't there a smaller hill anywhere? Like a…what do you call it…a _bunny hill_?"

Sighing, Edward slid over to her and handed her some skis and boots.

"Yeah, follow me. Put this stuff on first," he ordered. _Good thing Rose reminded her to wear pants today instead of a dress, _he thought anxiously. That would have been awkward if she hadn't…

Lyra held out her hands cautiously as they skied across a flat plane of ground towards some light, shorter hills. She soon found she didn't need to do that and was skating alongside him, though she was still nervous about the hills.

"All right, here's your bunny hill," he sighed impatiently. She was just being scared; she should have figured out by now that all sports of any kind would come naturally to her, what with all of her earlier destructive activities.

Lyra looked at him sourly and then pushed herself off and just slid to the bottom of the hill, standing upright the whole time. It was funny to watch. She looked back up at him from the bottom.

"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" he called, though he didn't need to yell.

"Yeah, I guess…how do I get back up though?"

"Walk up in steps, like you normally would, but sideways." He joined her at the bottom and showed her how and in 20 seconds they were back at the top. "Do you want to try something harder?"

"Uh…" Smirking, Edward led her through all the levels until they were standing at the top of the ramp and hill infested path that their family was all over.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall," he whispered and pushed her so she started sliding down the hill.

"Hey!" He laughed and followed her, keeping her pace until they got to the bottom, having avoided all the obstacles the first time.

"See that was fun, right?" he asked and Emmett whooshed past them off a ramp, followed by several other blurs on skis.

"Yeah…can we do it again? I think I'm good now." Edward frowned when she asked to do it by herself; he liked staying by her, helping her.

"Of course." They made their way up the hill and down again several times until Lyra was beating them all, catapulting off the hills and over of members of the family. Before long, Lyra was in a competition with Emmett and Kate, the two best skiers in the family. Edward probably could beat them, since he was the fastest, but other than baseball and football, he wasn't that competitive.

As the three yelled and dirty-talked at each other, Esme and Carlisle skated side by side with Carmen and Eleazar, both pairs holding hands as they watched their 'children' 'play'.

A pang of loneliness and sadness pierced through him when he saw that. He wanted to be with someone, and had hoped to be with Lyra by now, but nothing had really happened between them in that department. She was acting like he was her brother now, so their romantically-inclined awkwardness, or at least hers, was going down by the day.

As he stopped and watched as Emmett knocked Kate out of the race, Jasper came and stopped, joining his brother for a moment.

_Don't worry, she still feels the same as she did before. She's just trying to hide it because there's so many other people around_, his brother assured. Edward looked at him, astonished. _What? _Jasper smirked._ Yeah I've been paying attention. All of your doom and gloom hit me like a ton of bricks up there. _He pointed to the top of the hill. _Just cheer up and hang in there; be patient. She'll come around eventually._ He skated of to join Alice in their own private race.

Edward glared after his brother, but took his words into consideration. Maybe he was just being impatient…

Just then, Lyra stopped next to him, taking a break.

"Hey, why aren't you skiing? Wasn't that the whole point of this little outing?"

"Yes, I just…don't really feel like skiing right now."

"You could ski with me. We could whip Kate's butt!" she shouted enthusiastically. Well, he was glad to know her English was flawless now, given all the colloquialisms she was using all the time. Damn Emmett.

"Nah, I'm not much of a competitor. I'll watch and cheer you on." She pouted and then turned to ski dejectedly away. Edward stepped backwards just in the nick of time, before he got barreled over by Emmett as he grabbed their friend and held her bridal style.

"Can't compete now can you?" he hooted and proceeded to go off all the hills and fly down the slope as fast and as intricately as possible. Lyra clonked him on the head with her fist and he tossed her aside, where she landed smoothly on her feet.

"Oh, you asked for it!" she yelled and they raced to the top, starting yet _another_ round of contests. Edward stood by and took off his skis, sitting down by a tree to watch.

They were both flying down the hill, Lyra the tiniest bit ahead of Emmett. He was trying to out-distance her, but she was still stronger and faster than him, not to mention she was probably just humoring him, so he was losing. That was when he decided to play dirty and reached out to grab her shoulder. She smiled evilly and waved her hand out, making Emmett fly 40 feet to the side and into a tree.

Edward sat up, alarmed and rushed down to his brother.

"Lyra! Lyra stop!" he yelled.

"Damn," Emmett grumbled, grumpy over his loss. "Don't worry bro, I'm fine."

"That's not what I'm concerned about," he hissed as Lyra slid to a stop next to him.

"What?"

"You just threw Emmett into a tree!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, so? I didn't hurt him or anything."

"Yeah, chill out," Emmett chimed in.

"That's not what I mean! Lyra you didn't touch him! You waved your hand out and he flew 40 feet into the air!"

Everybody was silent as they looked back and forth between Lyra and Edward from their various places on the hill.

"What do you mean I didn't touch him?" she huffed, shoving her loose hair off her shoulder.

"Lyra…you didn't touch him. You _made_ him crash into the tree," he said, excitement in his voice. Emmett's eyes widened as he caught Edward's gist and the rest of their family skated over.

"I don't understand."

"You do have a gift after all." Eleazar breathed as he stared at her. His gift was sensing hers and it was confusing him. Why hadn't he sensed it earlier?

"Lyra, wave out your hand and try to make something move," he instructed. She did as he asked and nothing happened.

"Hey, don't try to move me!" Emmett exclaimed as she extended her hand towards him. She tittered at him to stop being a wuss.

"Put some effort into it," Edward ordered. She obviously didn't believe them about their assumptions. She tried twice more, skeptically, and nothing happened.

"Don't you think I would have noticed if I could make things move with my mind? I mean, if all I have to do is wave my hand-" she flung out her hand and squinted her eyes a bit. This time, Emmett whooshed up into the air and rammed into a pile of snow 30 feet away. They all stared at her, open mouthed. "Sweet," she muttered.

She turned around and concentrated, waving her hand at the broken tree Emmett had crashed into. It catapulted through the air and rolled down the hill.

"Oh my God!" she squealed. Yanking off her skis, she hobbled around on her boots and started flinging things around. Edward got annoyed looks from his family.

_Great_, they all thought dryly.

He had created a monster.

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It turned out that not only could Lyra control things physically, but mentally as well. After a week of throwing things around and making Emmett do embarrassing things, she found that she just had to concentrate, that the hand motion wasn't necessary. This was greatly amusing sometimes, because she would randomly make Emmett get up and dance or something. But it also made her a force to be reckoned with even more; you didn't always know she was coming now.

All of them were wary yet entertained by her antics; she had a gift others envied, that she wanted to keep, unlike most of the other gifted members of the family. Because of that, she might over use it, which she did sometimes. A few days, she had found herself exhausted because she had made people do so many things.

But thankfully, she wasn't cruel, and got around to only making people do things when they made her mad. Like when Rosalie stole a skirt of hers without asking, she made her dress in Emmett's clothes all day; or when Emmett broke the heels of a pair of her shoes and she made him bash his head against a tree a few times. That was the comical part.

One day, a rare peace-and-quiet one, Edward was sitting on the couch with her, reading a book while she speculated the dust floating around the house. Suddenly she asked him a random question, one that made him curious as well.

"Do you think I can make flowers grow?" Edward looked up and frowned, thinking about it.

"Well…I don't think so. I've never known anybody with a gift that could affect things like that…"

"But I made that tree move, the one Emmett knocked over when we were skiing."

"How about we give it a try?" he asked. She smiled and shook her head eagerly; he had been trying to find an excuse to spend some time with her and this was perfect. "Carmen brought some flowers over for Esme that she hasn't planted yet, I'm sure she's fine with you using some."

Leading her out to the garage, he motioned for her to take her pick from the little stand with rows of hundreds of seed bags. Lyra plucked out a random one and marched outside, grabbing a bag of dirt and a pot. He followed her and laughed at her zeal.

"Here," he reached out and grabbed the dirt bag, so she wouldn't spill it all on the ground like she was doing. "You know, for someone who used to plant all the time, you sure do make a mess," he teased. She smiled quickly and grabbed the pot, staring at it intensely after he pushed the seed into the soil.

They waited and after a minute of her hard gazing, the dirt moved and she squealed. Edward smiled encouragingly and she continued, but her face fell when a shriveled up brown stem that looked like root broke through.

"I killed it," she pouted.

"Well, I guess you'll have to wait. You can make it grow, but there's nothing to help it, so unless you want to kill things, you probably shouldn't try doing that again." He gently took the pot away.

Suddenly, she jumped to her feet and ran inside the house yelling for Esme. Edward smiled and shook his head, dumping the dirt and dead plant out on the ground and putting everything back in the garage.

"_Of course dear, help yourself_," Esme was saying and Lyra thanked her, coming back out.

"Help me make flower boxes," she told him and he smirked again at her commanding tone. She hadn't used her power on him so far, and he'd rather she didn't, so they walked over by the tree border and starting nailing together pieces of wood that were in the garage, making flower boxes to put everywhere.

"So, why do you like gardening so much?" he asked pleasantly, trying to make conversation. But when she didn't answer, he looked up to find her face dark, her thoughts depressed. "Sorry…" he mumbled. She turned and smiled at him; she tended to forget about his gift and would let loose with her thoughts or feelings.

"It's all right. I've always like flowers and I took up gardening when we moved back to Bulgaria when I was twelve. It was so I could…distract myself." Her black tone implied it was about what happened with her uncle.

"Oh…did it work?"

"Yes, for the most part. At least, until _he_ felt the need to comment on it."

"What did he say?" Edward asked angrily, ready to defend her again. Like the few times they had discussed this subject, she froze for a minute and took a deep breath before she spoke.

"One day I was weeding my garden and he came up to me and picked one. I got mad until I turned around and saw who it was. He was smirking at me and when I asked what was so funny, he said I was like the flower he was holding. He held it up and twirled it in the sunlight, told me that it was so delicate and beautiful, but pathetically fragile. Then he threw it on the ground and stomped on it." She flinched at the memory. "He said I was dirty, then kicked it at me."

"…He called you a _dirty flower_?" he asked incredulously. "Why do you still do it, if it relates to such a bad memory?"

"I don't know," she said lightheartedly, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood. "At the time, I agreed with him. Back then, I thought I _was_ dirty and impure, that the whole thing was my fault, because that's what him and my parents told me. They weren't so mean about it, but they dropped hints. Yet, even after I stopped believing that, I couldn't give them up." She held a packet of seeds up close to her chest and smiled. "Flowers are pretty and gentle, they give color and life to dark places. I'm not saying that I do that or anything, but I just like them I guess."

Edward pulled off his gloves and reached over, brushing back a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. She looked up at him and they both ignored the intakes of breath coming from the house. Emmett and Carlisle were spying again.

"But you _do_ do that. At least for me. When I was all mopey and depressed over Bella, you were one of the things that kept me home, that stopped me from going to the Volturi." He slid his hand down her arm and grasped her hand.

"You were going to go to the Volturi?" she whispered.

"Yes. I didn't want to live without Bella…at the time, she was my whole world, the first person to accept me for who I was. _And_ she was human, so that made her all the more special. Back then I didn't realize how awful she could be and was wallowing in dejection because she was gone. But then you stopped by and the utter concern you showed me, _me_, someone you hardly knew…that moment flashed through my mind while I was contemplating going to Italy and was one of the things that kept me going, that stopped me," he confessed. She sat there and stared at him, holding his hand tighter than before. Finally she gave him a tiny smile.

"I'm glad. I don't know what I would have done if this had happened to me and you weren't there. That would have been awful." At that, there were chuckles inside the house. Lyra turned at glared through the window and they could hear everybody going to do something. He chuckled as she _made_ them go away.

"Are we done, or would you like to make more?" he hoped she said yes, but they had made fourteen flower boxes so far…

"I think for Esme's sake that we should stop, save a little for her," Lyra laughed. They hauled the dirt cases back into the garage and placed several around the front of the house.

"You two have been busy," Tanya commented when she strutted into the garage as they took off their gloves.

"Yeah, I like to garden. Too bad I can't manipulate plants though…" she pouted again, making Edward snicker lightheartedly and Tanya laughed with fake amusement.

"Well, at least the house will smell nice," Tanya breathed and brushed past Edward, running he hand along his shoulder. "Would you like to go hunting with me?" she asked flirtatiously. Lyra looked down and busied herself with the other seed packets, a frown on her face. He couldn't help but entertain the idea that Lyra didn't want him going with Tanya.

"Actually, I told Lyra I would join her." He slipped out from under her grasp and walked over to his friend, holding out his hand. "Are you ready _Elyria_?" he smiled wolfishly at the stunned expression that crossed Lyra's face when he used her full name.

Then Lyra grinned from ear to ear and they dashed off, leaving a disappointed succubus behind.

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Lol, I just love calling Tanya a succubus! She's just so…ugh! I don't like her!

I know the title of this chapter only comes into play at the very end, but all the other names I thought of would give away Lyra discovering her gift, so there. And I came up with it a while ago and wanted to use it :P

R&R

-cally (^o^)

**P.S**- A few months ago, I was nearly 10 chapters ahead of myself in this story, but unfortunately this is the last chapter I have done and I'm not sure when I'll have the next one finished, so it may be a while before I update again. I have one more AP test, 3 finals and the ACT to get through so I don't have a whole lot of time. Please patient, I WILL UPDATE! Just not on the normal schedule.


	15. Is It Right REVISED

**Author's Note: Sorry for all the false updates on this chapter, I just had to keep fixing some things! **And so sorry it took so long to get this up! I've had MAJOR writer's block and it's been a bitch for ALL of my stories. This is a pretty short chapter, and I feel bad about that since I took so long to update, but the next one will undoubtedly be longer! It just might not be up for a while...

**Summary: **It's been six months since the last chapter, and Lyra is adjusting well to life in Denali. Edward asks himself a few questions after he hears a conversation between a certain pair of girls and the Cullen/Denali coven get a surprise.

**Rating: **K+ or K, this chapter isn't that bad at all.

**Word Count: **~4k

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Twilight or its characters, just my own people and the plot.

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Time, to a vampire, is nothing. A year, a decade or even a century can pass in the blink of an eye.

But the past six months have gone by painfully slow for Edward. He suffered in silence as he watched Lyra practice her power and grow closer to every member in the two vampire families; everybody except him and Tanya.

Lyra was especially close to Kate and Irina. Kate helped her with her power, showed her how to control it and how to nourish it so she could grow stronger. Irina showed her how to paint. This was something Edward loved about Irina; she had been the one to give him his few artistic skills. Lyra was constantly holed up in either her room or her new best friend's room, painting, drawing, sculpting, whatever Irina felt like showing her that day.

He was glad she was getting to know his family and friends, but he was growing impatient. He wanted to tell her how he felt, he wanted to talk to her, to kiss her and hold her like people who were in love were supposed to. All the lovebirds around him were starting to make him sick to his stomach, which was an oddly disturbing feeling for someone who'd been dead for a century.

He wanted that woman dammit!

But he was faced with yet _another_ dilemma: was it right? He was in love with her, he knew that, and he knew that everybody _else_ could tell. Except Lyra, naturally. But he was the only one that she had told about her past and that made him feel awkward and uncertain when it came to acting on his feelings. What if she wasn't over it? Questions about what he should do constantly plagued his mind, and for once he was glad he was the mind reader and not somebody else. That would probably raise concern.

So he turned to the only person he knew could help him without the unnecessary questions or judgments. Carlisle.

He waited until everybody else went on a hunting trip. It was miraculously good luck that only he and Carlisle were left behind and he wasn't going to waste that opportunity.

"Carlisle?" Edward knocked on the door of his father's study.

_Come in_, his father thought, as always. He preferred to speak using his mind when it was just the two of them. _What can I do for you?_ He asked with a pleasantly polite smile when Edward sat in front of him.

"I just…I need some advice." Carlisle was instantly alert when he heard the distressed tone in Edward's words.

_Of course, anything._

"Well…" he started, but couldn't continue, his embarrassment getting the best of him.

_Yes?_ He was beyond worried now.

"Carlisle…is this right to feel this way?" he asked hesitantly.

_What way?_

"About Lyra," he whispered, looking away from his father and out the window behind them. Carlisle's eyes widened and his face lit up with understanding.

_Oh. Well…I guess that depends. Do you mean for her or you?_

"Both. I want to just follow my emotions, for once, but I'm not sure if it's…appropriate. I mean, we left Forks," meaning Bella, "not even a year ago. Is it logical to be over _her_ this fast? To feel this way so soon? Especially about someone like Lyra?" He was long over those feelings for Bella, but he wanted to act socially acceptable, since Lyra was big on manners and etiquette.

_Edward_, Carlisle thought softly. _Whether or not it's 'logical' doesn't matter. This sort of thing, this emotion, isn't something that is reasonable. It's not something the mind controls._

"I know, but I feel…strange that I'm over it this fast. Plus, I'm not sure if it's even right for me to feel this way after all that she's been through. Somebody hurt her when she was human…she may have forgotten him and what he did, the memory may have faded, but she still knows it happened. It stuck with her, just like it did for Rosalie. What if she doesn't feel the same way...," He trailed off. Carlisle looked at him sadly; he could see the confusion and desperation in his son's eyes.

_Let me tell you something son_, Carlisle got up and walked over next to him, putting his hand on Edward's shoulder. _When I first saw your mother, when she was just sixteen, I realized there was something different about her, something that separated her from all the other humans. It wasn't logical for me to feel that way; physically I was seven years older than her, and in reality I was over two-hundred years older! But I still fell in love anyway. And guess what? She didn't mind at all! _He laughed.

"Well, it's a little different Carlisle; I couldn't care less about our age difference either way. I just…I'm not sure if it's okay to feel this! It's not like I have very much experience…"

_How do you feel when you're around her?_ A hint of Carlisle's 'doctor voice' appeared, as well as the fatherly one.

"Calm…like I have no worries. I feel at ease around her, apart from the occasional awkward moment, usually courtesy of Emmett," he replied bitterly. "I can talk to her, I can relate I guess. I know we're friends, but I feel like we're something else too; like we're companions. Does that make sense?"

_Yes, actually. Edward, I'm not Jasper; I don't know exactly what you're feeling but from what you're telling me, there is something more there, you're just to tentative to explore it. You are rather shy, and so is she; that's probably the companionship. You both are alike in many ways, but you're different too. From what I understand, that's usually part of romantic attraction. I say you just go with you gut, explore it a little. See what happens. If it doesn't go well, you have eternity to get over it and be friends again. _

"Thanks Carlisle. You're a lot more helpful than Emmett," he scoffed. Carlisle laughed and spoke aloud this time.

"And what did Emmett say?"

"He told me to 'try it in the sack and see how it goes'," he replied dryly, mimicking his brother's deeper voice perfectly. Carlisle laughed again, much to Edward's dismay.

"Well, that's Emmett for you. That is always an option if this whole emotional test run doesn't go well." Edward turned to look at his father incredulously.

"Where you not listening to anything I said? The 'test-run' is the only way! I don't want her to hate me for the rest of my life just because of Emmett's horn-dog advice."

"Well, I think this is all up to you then. This is for you to decide Edward, not anybody else. Do what you think is the right thing."

Edward smiled morbidly. It was all easier said than done.

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White hands wrung nervously together as Edward paced in his room, debating on his next move. The others were almost back from their hunting trip, so Lyra would be here soon. Now that he had had some guidance, he tried to form a plan. But of course, he was coming up blank. Now was the first time he had ever cursed the fact that he had never had any experience with women before Bella.

Finally everybody got back, but Edward was still pacing, feeling like he was wearing a line into the carpet with his worried steps.

_You can do this_, he thought to himself, repeating it like a mantra in his head. _Just ask her to go running, then tell her. Simple as that._

But as he watched through Carlisle's eyes as the family filed in through the back porch door, Lyra glided across the room with Kate, off to go practice her powers.

Edward grit his teeth in irritation. Would he ever be able to catch a break?

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It was a week later when Edward finally got the courage to ask. Ironically enough, it was because of Tanya.

Lyra and her had been lounging in the living room, reading maybe, when he got within hearing range, returning from a long run. The strawberry-blonde must not have heard him getting closer, because Tanya asked a question even _she_ wouldn't say around him.

"So, how are things going with Edward?" There was a sneaky, inquisitive tone to her voice, one that got his attention immediately. He could almost hear Lyra's head snap up and her eyes widen.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please," Tanya snorted. "Everybody knows that you two like each other. You've been here for over six months, where you two could have private time together if you wanted. Hasn't anything happened?" Now she was just being catty, to get information.

"Oh…um…well…nothing's going on…" If Lyra could still blush, she would be beet red. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." Tanya gave a coy smile then delicately turned a page in her book, her thoughts taking a venomous and _uncomfortable_ turn. God, did she never give up?

"Do you…like him?" Lyra asked quietly, like she was afraid of the answer she was bound to get.

"I'd think that's fairly obvious dear, but yes. I've been trying to get that boy for over 50 years now. And thanks to you, I might finally succeed. Both you and that human girl opened his heart; perhaps it's my job to fill it." Edward repressed a snort at that.

"Oh…maybe." Lyra agreed halfheartedly, and he saw through Tanya's eyes as she bit her lower lip, like she wanted to say something. Hesitating, Tanya didn't ask, eager to end their conversation on her terms.

This sparked hope in Edward. Did that mean Lyra _didn't_ want Tanya and him to be together? Did she have feelings for him like he did for her? Or was she just agreeing because of her passive personality?

Skidding to a stop, Edward pondered this for a good two hours before others started to return to the house, since Tanya, Lyra and him had been the only ones to stay behind from another family hunting trip.

Lyra bounced off with Kate and Irina again, and this time he didn't mind. He had a lot to consider if his suspicions were right. Lyra's mind was clouded, so he couldn't get a clear read, but from what he was seeing, she was keeping something buried, some emotion.

At that moment, as he sat thinking on the couch, Jasper walked in through the door with Alice. Edward's eyebrows perked as he got an idea.

"Jasper, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked. His brother nodded and he went on his second run that day, stopping when they were both out of hearing range.

"What is it?" Jasper was slightly worried and he had right to be; Edward's emotions had been far too chaotic to ignore the past few days.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Of course." Edward hesitated before asking.

"Could you try to monitor Lyra's feelings for me?" Jasper's head jerked back in surprise and confusion at his brother's request, so he rushed to clarify. "I just want to see if a theory I have is correct." Understanding lit up the blonde's eyes and he smirked knowingly.

"Would this have to do with whether she likes you or not?"

"Maybe," Edward sneered; but he ended up smiling at the thought, giving him away.

"Sure, sure. I'll watch her." Jasper agreed and they ran back to the house, lightheartedly trying to trip each other the whole way.

When they got back, Jasper went and found Alice, leaving to do whatever it was they did. Edward leaned against the doorframe as he watched Lyra try to play the piano, with Esme and Carmen on either side, instructing her. When she spotted him, she waved him over, so he could help.

Smiling, he crossed the room, staring down at her as she tried to concentrate on hitting the right keys.

It was time to collect some data.

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"Try it again," he instructed. Lyra repeated the string of notes on the baby grand piano, her thin fingers gliding over the keys smoothly, like a stream over rocks. "There, now press down the middle peddle." The sounds hit the right pitch and the keys blended to create a beautiful melody. Off in a corner of his mind, Edward took those notes and formulated them into a new song, tweaking and adjusting them into a high-strung happy tune, resembling the aura of a certain girl…

"How was that?" Lyra asked, peering up at him with eyes of liquid gold. He smiled and she clapped her hands, happy to have gotten it right, while he stared. The snares, or catches, that were a vampire's good looks and tantalizing scent were nothing new to him, but when he stared at her pale, porcelain skin, her honey eyes…he felt like a human staring at an angel, she was so captivating.

But his thoughts became aggravated when a certain blonde walked into the room, brushing his shoulder with her hand as she passed. Images of Tanya looking at herself in the mirror, or her washing herself in the shower flashed through her mind, obviously directed at him.

Gritting his teeth, he turned his attention back to the black-haired beauty next to him, to try to block out the vulgar images Tanya was sending him. This was clearly an attempt on her part to seduce him, or to enflame a longing in him. She had been doing this for the past 50 years, would she ever stop?

Then her earlier conversation with Lyra to mind and his hand curled into a fist in anger. Tanya thought that she had a chance because Lyra said she didn't have feelings for him. Edward held back a snort of derision at her arrogance. She was in for a big surprise if that was what she thought.

He was yanked out of his musing when a hand uncurled his fist and smoothed his palm out.

"Are you all right?" Lyra was looking up at him with concern in her golden eyes, her hand grasping his. He squeezed her hand lightly and smiled.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"It's nothing to worry yourself about." He gave Lyra another dazzling smile just as Tanya walked into the room, and he held back a laugh at her expression when she saw.

'_Don't like him' my ass. What game is that girl playing? Does she really think she can outdo me? I've been at this far longer than her…well _little girl_, we'll see who's really the winner here._ Tanya sneered in their direction, while more images went through her mind as she walked over to them.

"Do you mind if I have a turn?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him. "Maybe you could help me Edward; I think my _piano_ _skills_ need to be _improved_." She was obviously hinting at something and to his dismay, Lyra gave up her seat at the piano bench and went over to sit on the living room sofa.

Sighing in irritation, he grudgingly directed Tanya in her playing as stiffly as he could, to show his annoyance. Conveniently, she didn't seem to notice.

After a half an hour of doing this, his nerves were shot and he was starting to get snippy. Right as Tanya was realizing she was pushing him to the edge instead of flirting, there was a knock on the door.

_Thank God_, he thought dryly. He moved to answer it, but Lyra beat him to it, giving him a small smile.

"Hello…" she said uncertainly. This perked his interest, and at the visitor's next words, Tanya's did too.

"Is this where Carlisle Cullen lives?" asked a deep male voice.

"Uh…y-yes…do you know him?"

"No, but I've heard of him. Please, can I talk to him?"

Edward went from his place next to Tanya, to standing beside Lyra protectively.

"_How_ do you know of him?" he asked while scrutinizing the man at their door. He was around six feet tall and had short, wavy brown hair. He looked to be around 20 years old, though he was obviously a newborn, since his eyes were still scarlet. He was muscular, though not ridiculously so, like Emmett.

"He and his family of yellow-eyed vampires, like you guys, are quite famous. Most think he's a lunatic for repressing his natural instincts, but when I first heard about him a few weeks ago, a month after I was turned, I took inspiration. I want to follow your lifestyle but I know I can't do it by myself. That's why I want to talk to him."

Lyra looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes. She could relate perhaps, and the man's thoughts were sincere, but Edward still couldn't just like a wild newborn into the house.

"He's not here right now. Maybe you should come back later."

"Edward! We can't just tell him to go away!" Lyra hissed.

"Yes, we can control him if anything goes wrong," Tanya added. "Please, come in. You can wait for him here." She led the red-eyed vampire to the sofa, where they engaged in light conversation. Lyra stood by him the whole time, looking like she was trying to figure the man out as he sat there waiting politely.

But Edward noticed the glances the man kept sending her way, and his thoughts were loud and clear. Repressing a growl, he moved closer to Lyra and glared at the man to show his protectiveness.

Thankfully, a few minutes later, the others started returning.

"What is going on?" Eleazar demanded as they came through the door.

"Who is this?" Rosalie sneered as Emmett and Jasper moved to protect their wives.

"Don't worry, all he wants to do is talk." Lyra assured them. Edward curled his lip at that. She gestured to the man so he would explain.

"My name is Zack Stengler. I was turned a few months ago in Detroit, Michigan and made my way here wandering around. I heard that there were two families living in Denali, Alaska; families that were different, that didn't feed on humans."

"Who told you?" Carlisle asked, genuinely curious.

"Some nomads I travelled with for a few days. Look, I know this is threatening, for some newborn like me to just show up on your doorstep, but I don't want to live like the others. I don't want to hurt people, I don't want that to be how I survive. When I heard about you, I thought maybe I could learn how you live, so I wouldn't have to kill." Everybody seemed taken aback by that. Carlisle looked at Jasper and the blonde nodded.

"He's sincere."

_What do you think son? There haven't been any disappearances in town or neighboring counties. And he obviously doesn't want to feed on humans,_ Carlisle remarked, noticing the boy's dark eyes.

Sighing, Edward nodded at Carlisle and Carlisle nodded at Eleazar, who turned to greet the man with a warm smile.

"Well then…" he started. "Who are we to push out someone wanting to learn our ways?" Carmen and Esme smiled and went to go greet the new vampire, while Edward and his brothers stayed back.

_Do you think we can trust him?_ Emmett thought in his direction. Edward shrugged in response. _I don't like the looks of him…he's as big as Eleazar, almost as big as me. Plus he's a newborn; if he goes out of control…_ Edward held up his hand to stop where that thought was going. They would be able to control the newborn if he lost it, but he could hurt someone before they got to him. Edward glanced at Lyra, who was joining Esme and Carmen in welcoming Zack. She looked so small compared to him…

"Let me show you to where you'll be staying," Lyra smiled while she and Esme towed Zack upstairs to one of the vacant rooms.

_Oh boy, looks like you got some competition there. Good luck_ _with that_. Emmett ribbed and smirked at him as he passed by holding Rose's hand. Edward sneered in response, but couldn't help but feel uneasy.

_Don't worry. You'll get her_. Alice chimed in and patted his shoulder. He gave her a small smile and headed upstairs to get in on the mingling.

He would be damned if he lost his girl again.

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*le gasp* what will happen now?

Sorry this chapter took so long to write and sorry it's so short. Turns out 'summer' is really a synonym for writer's block, or writer's distraction, which ever. -.- I'm really starting to get out-of-touch with this story, so it will be finished pretty soon.

REVIEW!

-cally (^o^)

**6/28/12 Update**: I've created a poll for you guys to vote on a new story idea I have, so please visit my profile page and let me know what you think! :D


	16. Author's Note, PLEASE READ!

Hey guys, I'm sorry this isn't another chapter update, but it is a update to announce an update! :D

Writing this story has been very hard lately; like I said last chapter, I'm just not feeling it right now. Maybe someday I will, when I reread it, but not right now. Once I get another idea for a story, I tend to lose focus on my current ones.

So the next chapter will be out around mid-October, since nobody really reviews during the summer (as I've learned). And also it will give me time to think and actually make the chapter decent. I've already started it, but it's not even close to being finished so please be patient with me; I really am trying! :D

Until then, check out my other stories, review all the ones you read and eat plenty of bacon my little bunnies. I WILL UPDATE!

-cally (^o^)

**P.S**- Look out for a new story I wrote that I'll be releasing in the fall. It's another Edward/OC story, that's only a few chapters long. Fluff, angst and spontaneous love galore! It's called _And the Lion Fell Prey to the Lamb_.


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